My uncle flew the P-40 in New Guinea. Later, the unit switched to A-20s. Uncle Joe was 5 foot 1 inch on his tallest day, but he was all bad-ass, while still remaining humble.
An old post-Pearl Harbor joke: "Ever heard of a P-400? That's a P-40 with a Zero on its tail!" Still, it was a good, solid aircraft for its time, and the pride of my airplane collection as a kid was a 1/32 scale P-40 Flying Tiger in Chinese colors.
@@JosephStalin-yk2hd Actually Tovaresch, the P-63 was a totally different aircraft than the P-39, utilizing a laminar-flow wing, among other less obvious improvements over it's similar looking cousin.
It was Tex Hill of the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) who with 3 others flying P-40E's totally stopped (and mostly destroyed) Japan's battle hardened 56th Army Division at the Salween Gorge on May 1942, thereby keeping China in the War and handing Japan it's 1st humbling defeat. For that day alone, the P-40 design deserves to be remembered with awe.
I always found myself comparing this to the Spitfire, my favourite WWII aircraft, performance and appearance wise. I call the Warhawk "Spitfire's heavy boxer cousin".
P-40 was so much more important than this video gives it credit. It was equal or better than most fighters at the beginning of the war. It became a great fighter bomber after better P-51 fighters became widely available. Only a very few fighters were used extensively throughout the entire war. 109, spit, and P-40 are the ones I can think of.
P-40 was a bruiser with the heart of a lion forged in combat, it did enough to hold the line against the odds, so respect to this bruiser and the men who flew this plane and for those who made the ultimate safice.
My favorite fighter plane of w2. I remember reading The flying Tigers when I was in grade school and buying several P40 models. There was a movie made for tv that was called Death Race, later changed to State of Division where 2 P40s are the “stars”of the movie. It takes place in North Africa. One of the best movies at that time. I would like that movie to be remade with a real German tank and not an American tank with German markings.
The Brazilian Air Force operated more than 70 P-40s (mainly K and N models) between 1942 and 1953. Many fighter pilots had it in high regard, and there is a P-40N preserved at the Museu Aeroespacial at Rio de Janeiro. It was also essential to train pilots who latter flew the P-47D in Italy.
The P-40 was an underdog that over performed in the the first two years of the Pacific War. Not the best aerial weapon but available in quantity when better allied aircraft were not to be yet available.
There was a lot of learning going on - the Allied AF's had to adapt, play to its strengths and minimise it weakness. That's what the RAAF did in the defence of Pt Moresby. Concentrated on the bombers, climb above them and then a one pass diving attack relying on firepower and resilience to be effective. And they were.
@@graemesydney38 Yep, they would get one dive attack and then sprint away and eventually climb back into attack altitude far enough away where they wouldn't get pounced with the slow climb rate, then another group would do the same, rinse and repeat, never get into a turning dogfight.
@@bobsakamanos4469 …Warfare based on attrition. The IJN had the quality. But couldn’t sustain it. After Midway they were in trouble. The Solomons and New Guinea campaigns they were doomed. Eventually.
@@noahbianchi1920 Yep like the Wildcat and Hurricane, it did an admirable job of keeping Allies alive until improved aircraft could be made in meaningful numbers.
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! The unsung hero of the Battle of Britain & North Africa. The unsung hero of South East Asia and Pacific. How would we have faired without these two.
History is not about wartime propaganda. It's about results and facts. The Hurricane was obsolete by 1940 and replaced by the P-40 in the MTO. Both were only useful against the LW if they had the advantage in numbers and better aircraft for top cover.
Boy if they ever make a show about the Flying Tigers Luke Evans is a dead ringer for Claire Lee Chennault lol. On a serious note I’m very glad I found this channel. Excellent content brother, keep up the great work. Would love to see a video by you about the A6M. Look forward to all your content! God bless!
The Allison 1710 equiped: P38, P39, P40, P51A. A workhorse engine. In high demand by Hydroplane racers. Flying Tigers, Soviets, appreciated reliability and low maintenance of the engine under field conditions. Boyington remarked about the Cyclone engines in the Corsair. My Uncle said never lost P47s (long range bomber escort) in his B-24 formations (from China, pre-B29).
Yup, good for sea level racing boats, not fighters. It had a host of problems, detonation, engine fires, thrown rods, etc. The -81 was somewhat better but Allison had to develop a new intake manifold. By mid-late 1944 it was somewhat improved, but never a good high altitude engine, not even in the P-82.
@@stephenjacks8196 P-82 used in Korea. NAA was forced by GM to switch from P-Merlins to the latest Allisons, which were a maintenance nightmare. The -81 I referred to was the Allison -81 version.
Well, done. Good graphics, along with some comparisons with contemporary adversaries. But there wasn't anything in the vid that most people didn't know already. May I make some suggestions? All aircraft have strengths and weaknesses. When doctrine and pilots play to these they most often come out on top. For example the AVG showed that the P-40 was a great aircraft in a diving attack. This of course depended on the Chinese air warning system allowing the defense to get to altitude. Altogether, a killer combination. It would have been interesting, and less known, what the over all kill ratio was. Secondly, you might include one epic fight. For example Johnson's badly damaged P-47 still being immune to the German ace's attacks. It would be like the box art for model airplanes--excitement, juice! Good luck, I've sub'd.
I was expecting more Flying Tigers history and engagements, but over all it was a good run down of the aircraft. It would be nice if he revisited older videos with newer graphics and fresh information.
P-40 history is an interesting one. Engine and radiator vital points were hard to hit from behind, but a frontal attack was more risky, as were attacks from a good deflection shot. Good dive speed (but with lots of trimming required on changes of speed and a strong left leg), great roll rate, lousy climb performance, poor performance above 15,000 & needed top cover. Boost management required prior to the -73 engine during dives. Ergonomics made pilot workload high. Very strong wings. Great fighter bomber with the N version able to carry 2,000lb bomb load.
Churchill "Our most vital need is therefore the delivery at the earliest possible date of the largest possible number of Curtiss P-40 fighters." page 86 The Burning Blue Addison and Crang
Good video mate. Be aware that there's an image showing an officer inspecting a P 40. Which is actually a P 51 mustang. You may wish to amend it but most people probably won't notice
It is range, reliability and ruggedness that makes a fighter really useful to an air force. That is why so many were ordered. Pilots may prefer an aircraft that tears up the sky but air forces need an airplane that flies for a very long time.
The P-40 had a supercharger. I think you meant to say it was intended to have a turbocharger in addition to the supercharger like the P-38. General Electric was the only maker. High temperature materials were still in their infancy so there were never enough turbochargers to go around. The AAF gave priority to P-38s, P-47s and bombers. The P-40 was left out. It's too bad Allison did not give it a two-speed supercharger like the Merlin.
While giving it more speed would have helped its top speed and climb stats, the P-40 was still not a turn plane. So all that would really give you is the ability to climb higher to start your boom and zoom attacks as chennault taught his pilots to do with the P40 they had. So redesigning the plane to get a merlin or modified twin charged alison engine would not have been viable to the government when by that time, the P-51 was already in the game. I do believe they tested P40s with the merlin, but it proved no better than a P51 or P47 already coming off the production lines.
@@Power5 the F & L had the 2-speed Merlin XX. Better and more reliable performance at higher 23,000' altitude, but still not a 2-stage Merlin. Used for top cover over the Allison P-40s.
The P40 was Americas 'Hurricane', whilst overshadowed by the more glamorous P47 and P51 did an outstanding job and was able to bring the pilot home when other aircraft couldn't. If it had been given the Packard built 'Merlin' engine, who knows what it could have been capable of?
The P-40 was better than the Hurricane and replaced them everywhere. the P-40F & L did receive the two speed P-Merlin (Merlin XX) . It couldn't take the heavier 2-stage 60 series Merlin.
Love the p-40. Like the F4F Wildcat the P-40 was rugged! And then large numbers available! I'm glad that there's more airworthy examples and there were back in the 70s. She is quite the movie star! There was a P-40 featured in the animated version of Planet of the Apes!. If I remember it had an image of an Apes head painted on the nose with big teeth LOL!
Thank you! Unfortunately this format takes a lot of time to get things done, about 2 weeks. But it's also because I'm inexperienced. Will surely get faster at this.
thank you for the video and info my grandfather flew a p40 in ww2 he was shot down and lived drove milk truck 18 weeler after the war and died years later of type 2 diabetis im always trying to learn more about the p40 i wish i knew witch modle p40 he flew thanks again so much
I like your format, and am not suggesting a change. That being said, I think dive speed should be brought into the equation somehow. With a quick Google search I was not able to get a number, although one source rated the dive speed of the P-40 as “excellent”. At medium altitudes or higher a fighter with superior dive speed but otherwise inferior performance could ambush an enemy if it had an altitude advantage and could disengage from a losing dogfight. I believe many high-scoring aces preferred ambush over dogfight. The single speed supercharger was almost automatically a deal-killer over Europe. The Soviets liked the plane, but liked the P-39 better. It would have been interesting if the Finns got ahold of the P-40, with their history of wringing the best out of aircraft considered hopelessly obsolete in other theaters.
I forgot to add that the P-40 is another example of pilot experience being more important than aircraft performance. The guys who learned to use its strengths fought well. And Marseilles would have scored just as many had the aircraft been reversed! It should also be noted that the 109 and P-40 were close enough in speed down low that either could be faster depending on details. The A6M was considerably slower and almost impossible to maneuver if trying to keep up with well flown P-40. When comparing "maneuverability" you have to ask how high? How fast? Who's the pilot? What kind of load are they carrying? That's why the massive P-38s and US Navy fighters were able to easily outmaneuver "much more maneuverable" Japanese fighters. Cheers!
Even just putting a supercharger/turbocharger on the Allison would have made it a great fighter but as used by the AVG is was used to its best aspects.
The P-40F had a Merlin engine, but it lacked the two speed supercharger used on the later mark Spitfires and Mustangs that gave them good high altitude performance. The P-40F, with the Merlin, had somewhat better performance than Allison engine variants, but not markedly so.
@@no-nonseplayer6612 That is actually a great suggestion. I've been wanting to do something about Finland and the Winter War for a while. Can't promise a date, but now that you mentioned, it'll be sooner.
I know this is not in my video. Maybe in the future I will add it to the variants part, but I did skip the models F and L. This is from the wikipedia: "P-40F and P-40L, which both featured Packard V-1650 Merlin engine in place of the normal Allison, and thus did not have the carburetor scoop on top of the nose. Performance for these models at higher altitudes was better than their Allison-engined cousins. The L in some cases also featured a fillet in front of the vertical stabilizer, or a stretched fuselage to compensate for the higher torque." and the reason why they didn't become more common: "Although the P-40F was superior to the Allison powered P-40s, there was a shortage of Merlin engines due to the vast number of aircraft that used them. Parts for these engines were becoming scarce, and maintenance became an issue. As a result, at least 70 P-40Fs were re-engined with V-1710-81s of 1,360 hp.[2] These aircraft became known as P-40R-1s." Cheers!
The P-40, like the P-39 and Brewster Buffalo, gained a bad reputation because it was thrown into the impossible situation at the beginning of the Pacific war. When flown by experienced pilots within their limits they could take on anything. It's tough to sort out accurate kill ratios but the concensus seems to be that their kill ratio, fighter against fighter, was a little over 2-1. Considering the fact that they started out at about 10-1 against I think that's pretty impressive.
I always thought the P-40 was a handsome, sturdy, dependable-looking thing. Not Gary Cooper/Cary Grant handsome, but Spencer Tracy, or Eddie Albert handsome.
The F-4 version you have in the comparison, has its engine power slightly above what it should be. This is the power on late-war settings, but the earlier 109s could produce only about 1270hp at the time of the war in africa.
I didn't notice you say anything about the p40f in particular with the Packard engine that was the license version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. How did that aircraft perform separately than the Allison powered models?
It had a very slight edge above 15K feet but below the Allison had an edge, basically they were very equal and it was much easier from a logistical standpoint to support the Allison powered version. Also that version of the Packard Merlin was much in demand for the British Lancaster.
I've always wondered if they could have put the Engine The P-51 used in the P-40? The major weakness of their climb rate would have been much improved as well as upping the MPH on it.
Not sure if it was even with the Zero either , maybe in the hands of a skilled pilot , yes your right look what the AVG did with tactics against the Zekes
@@davegeisler7802 the P40 could turn very well at high speed... one of the AVG pilots noted that if you could keep the nose down and thus the speed up, the ailerons on the Japanese fighters locked up and you could turn inside them.
The shark's mouth was on the Flying Tiger outfit only. Since then, only Air Force units that can trace their origins back to the Flying Tigers can use the shark mouth paint scheme.
The P-40 was used in China's Flying Tiger group led by American pilot volunteers. You forgot to mention that Pappy Boyington as one of those eary Aces later on to lead the famed Coursair Squadron Ba Ba Blacksheep 🙃⁉️
The fact that Hans-Joachim Marseille cut down so many of these doesn't mean that this was a bad airplane. As the real flying ace Marseille was, he would have shot anny airplane no matter wich...but there was the P 40
I only know this as anecdotal evidence but the "sharkmouth" as painted on the "Flying Tigers" group was a copied from P40's as per used by a pre-war RAAF
to me it always seemed like a very good platform that didn't get an engine comparable to what the top tier fighers like spit's, mustangs, thunders or 109's got. like could they have somehow put a good merlin in it how close could it have been to those top tier fighters? ok, seems like some p40's did get a merlin engine... but not the beefy merlin the mustang's got.
Jolly nasty business this shooting of enemy pilots under parachute but you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Glad I don't have to make the decision because after the blighters were trying to pump me or my mates with hot lead up the jacksie, I think given half a chance if I caught them under silk I'd shoot the kunce - out of pragmatism of course rather than vengeance. I don't want them coming back. Of course for every enemy pilot I killed under a parachute I will never ever know how many of mine I saved.
![A Domestic Failure That Became An International Success | Curtiss P-36 Hawk [Aircraft Overview #33]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lTgY8za-2Xw/mqdefault.jpg)
![A Domestic Failure That Became An International Success | Curtiss P-36 Hawk [Aircraft Overview #33]](/img/tr.png)
My uncle flew the P-40 in New Guinea. Later, the unit switched to A-20s. Uncle Joe was 5 foot 1 inch on his tallest day, but he was all bad-ass, while still remaining humble.
If he has ANY anecdotes at all, now is the time to wheedle them from him.
An old post-Pearl Harbor joke:
"Ever heard of a P-400? That's a P-40 with a Zero on its tail!"
Still, it was a good, solid aircraft for its time, and the pride of my airplane collection as a kid was a 1/32 scale P-40 Flying Tiger in Chinese colors.
p-400 was a p-39 with a zero on it tail not p-40
There was actually a P-400, an export version of the P-39
Your 1/32 P-40 kit was undoubtedly the Revell model. I don't know how many of those I built back in the early '60s. Wright Flyer, USAF (1968-1972).
@@Ralphieboy the P-400 wasn’t an export, it was a model before. The major variants, like the P-39 and P-63.
@@JosephStalin-yk2hd Actually Tovaresch, the P-63 was a totally different aircraft than the P-39, utilizing a laminar-flow wing, among other less obvious improvements over it's similar looking cousin.
It was Tex Hill of the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) who with 3 others flying P-40E's totally stopped (and mostly destroyed) Japan's battle hardened 56th Army Division at the Salween Gorge on May 1942, thereby keeping China in the War and handing Japan it's 1st humbling defeat. For that day alone, the P-40 design deserves to be remembered with awe.
A nice looking aircraft despite its shortcomings. Rather an unsung workhorse like the Hawker Hurricane, one of my other favourite planes.
That would be a great title for this video. P-40 - The Unsung Warhawk.
I always found myself comparing this to the Spitfire, my favourite WWII aircraft, performance and appearance wise. I call the Warhawk "Spitfire's heavy boxer cousin".
I recently watched a doc on Women Airforce Service Pilots, the P40 was the favourite assignment for delivery for many of them over P51's and 47's
A workman should not blame his tools. Used within it's design parameters the P-40 was a dangerous opponent, as Claire Chennault proved.
P-40 was so much more important than this video gives it credit. It was equal or better than most fighters at the beginning of the war. It became a great fighter bomber after better P-51 fighters became widely available. Only a very few fighters were used extensively throughout the entire war. 109, spit, and P-40 are the ones I can think of.
P-40 was a bruiser with the heart of a lion forged in combat, it did enough to hold the line against the odds, so respect to this bruiser and the men who flew this plane and for those who made the ultimate safice.
The P-40, operating in the Close Air Support role, was pivotal in the first defeat of Japanese land forces at Milne Bay.
Yep, few people remember it's extreme survivability and how it was one of the first fighter bombers.
Had the IJN not already lost most of their carriers at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway, the P-40s wouldn't have survived.
Rugged, reliable and a great gun platform. Great ground attack aircraft.
My favorite fighter plane of w2. I remember reading The flying Tigers when I was in grade school and buying several P40 models. There was a movie made for tv that was called Death Race, later changed to State of Division where 2 P40s are the “stars”of the movie. It takes place in North Africa. One of the best movies at that time. I would like that movie to be remade with a real German tank and not an American tank with German markings.
My favorite American WW2 fighter. Loved it since I was a kid.
The P40 is like that player on the team that contributes just enough to help the team win but not enough to get noticed by the fans or media.
It was only useful when it outnumbered its opponents and had top cover.
@@bobsakamanos4469 The Desert Air Force begs to differ and Flying Tigers beg to differ
@@901Sherman clearly, you need to research history a little better as to who the players were, their numbers, and their success rates in the desert.
My grandfather was on the design team for the P40 Warhawk series. He passed in 2003.
The Brazilian Air Force operated more than 70 P-40s (mainly K and N models) between 1942 and 1953. Many fighter pilots had it in high regard, and there is a P-40N preserved at the Museu Aeroespacial at Rio de Janeiro. It was also essential to train pilots who latter flew the P-47D in Italy.
The P-40 was an underdog that over performed in the the first two years of the Pacific War. Not the best aerial weapon but available in quantity when better allied aircraft were not to be yet available.
Right on!
There was a lot of learning going on - the Allied AF's had to adapt, play to its strengths and minimise it weakness. That's what the RAAF did in the defence of Pt Moresby. Concentrated on the bombers, climb above them and then a one pass diving attack relying on firepower and resilience to be effective. And they were.
@@graemesydney38 Yep, they would get one dive attack and then sprint away and eventually climb back into attack altitude far enough away where they wouldn't get pounced with the slow climb rate, then another group would do the same, rinse and repeat, never get into a turning dogfight.
"Quantity has a quality all its own", said Stalin.
@@bobsakamanos4469 …Warfare based on attrition. The IJN had the quality. But couldn’t sustain it. After Midway they were in trouble. The Solomons and New Guinea campaigns they were doomed. Eventually.
It was tough and rugged and it could dive well that about sums up the P40 .
Decent range for an early war fighter, too
Edward Stocky Edward's is another notable P-40 ace, Tex Hill is I think the top US ace in the aircraft.
My great aunt made p40s during ww2 at the buffalo plant, my great grandparents made p47s later in the war
Ameican version of the Hurricane. Others took the glory, these aircraft were to busy working.
Well said 👍
Agree. A plane designed by the brass for the previous war that was available when the war started.
@@noahbianchi1920 Yep like the Wildcat and Hurricane, it did an admirable job of keeping Allies alive until improved aircraft could be made in meaningful numbers.
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! The unsung hero of the Battle of Britain & North Africa. The unsung hero of South East Asia and Pacific. How would we have faired without these two.
History is not about wartime propaganda. It's about results and facts. The Hurricane was obsolete by 1940 and replaced by the P-40 in the MTO. Both were only useful against the LW if they had the advantage in numbers and better aircraft for top cover.
I didn’t realize there were more P-40’s produced than P-38’s.
Attrition warfare, trying to outnumber the LW was the only way to gain an upper hand for P-40s - as long as they had top cover from Spitfires.
My Dad and Grandfather built P-40's during World War II! He also worked on P-47G's that Curtiss built. My Uncle worked on C-46's!
Clive Caldwell sounds like a true Australian
Best video on this plane that I've seen. You guys have your research game down.
Thank you!
Boy if they ever make a show about the Flying Tigers Luke Evans is a dead ringer for Claire Lee Chennault lol. On a serious note I’m very glad I found this channel. Excellent content brother, keep up the great work. Would love to see a video by you about the A6M. Look forward to all your content! God bless!
Thank you! The A6M will take some time to come, but I will keep making videos about lesser-known Japanese planes until I get to the A6M.
My uncle Mac was in the US ARMY fighting the Japanese he spoke highly of the P40s being called in for ground support🇺🇸💥💥👍
you just started making videos for youtube and i think you are allredy good
Thank you!
The Allison 1710 equiped: P38, P39, P40, P51A. A workhorse engine. In high demand by Hydroplane racers.
Flying Tigers, Soviets, appreciated reliability and low maintenance of the engine under field conditions. Boyington remarked about the Cyclone engines in the Corsair. My Uncle said never lost P47s (long range bomber escort) in his B-24 formations (from China, pre-B29).
Sorry, the Corsair used the Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp, not the Cyclone.
Yup, good for sea level racing boats, not fighters. It had a host of problems, detonation, engine fires, thrown rods, etc. The -81 was somewhat better but Allison had to develop a new intake manifold. By mid-late 1944 it was somewhat improved, but never a good high altitude engine, not even in the P-82.
@@bobsakamanos4469 T81? Do you mean T82? Or P51 using Packard1650 (license built Merlin engine) (in later P51s)
@@stephenjacks8196 P-82 used in Korea. NAA was forced by GM to switch from P-Merlins to the latest Allisons, which were a maintenance nightmare. The -81 I referred to was the Allison -81 version.
Well, done. Good graphics, along with some comparisons with contemporary adversaries.
But there wasn't anything in the vid that most people didn't know already.
May I make some suggestions?
All aircraft have strengths and weaknesses. When doctrine and pilots play to these they most often come out on top. For example the AVG showed that the P-40 was a great aircraft in a diving attack. This of course depended on the Chinese air warning system allowing the defense to get to altitude. Altogether, a killer combination. It would have been interesting, and less known, what the over all kill ratio was.
Secondly, you might include one epic fight. For example Johnson's badly damaged P-47 still being immune to the German ace's attacks. It would be like the box art for model airplanes--excitement, juice!
Good luck, I've sub'd.
Thank you very much for the sub and the feedback.
I will try out some fun stuff for sure, and I will take into account your suggestions!
He did include a fight explanation for the Clive Caldwell fight against german ace and his wingman.
I was expecting more Flying Tigers history and engagements, but over all it was a good run down of the aircraft. It would be nice if he revisited older videos with newer graphics and fresh information.
Check out the Curtiss XP-40Q, kind of a P-40 extreme makeover and a fine looking airplane. I remember reading about it back in the '50s and '60s.
Have heard time and time again about the p40, damed by words flown to glory !!
P-40 history is an interesting one. Engine and radiator vital points were hard to hit from behind, but a frontal attack was more risky, as were attacks from a good deflection shot.
Good dive speed (but with lots of trimming required on changes of speed and a strong left leg), great roll rate, lousy climb performance, poor performance above 15,000 & needed top cover. Boost management required prior to the -73 engine during dives. Ergonomics made pilot workload high.
Very strong wings. Great fighter bomber with the N version able to carry 2,000lb bomb load.
Churchill "Our most vital need is therefore the delivery at the earliest possible date of the largest possible number of Curtiss P-40 fighters."
page 86 The Burning Blue Addison and Crang
Good video mate. Be aware that there's an image showing an officer inspecting a P 40. Which is actually a P 51 mustang. You may wish to amend it but most people probably won't notice
It is range, reliability and ruggedness that makes a fighter really useful to an air force. That is why so many were ordered. Pilots may prefer an aircraft that tears up the sky but air forces need an airplane that flies for a very long time.
All can be thankful for this plane and the men who flew them..have a little pride for the era
Good reporting and accurate, the P40 was a okay platform, but Germany showed a trick or two for sure. Good video
Thank you!
One of the handsomest prop aircraft ever made
A better head to head comparison for Japanese aircraft would be the Ki-43 which the P-40 faced far more often than the A6M in the Pacific theater.
シャークティースも
似合いますが,
機首に髑髏のペイントのヤツ,
最高カッコイイです!!
Glad I found this gem!
Thank you! I will upload a new video in a few days.
With all six guns firing you got about 32 seconds of ammo.
Wow
Twice than the spitfire
great channel, i am glad i stumbled upon this
Thank you!
Third most produced American Fighter of the war. at least 200 P-40 pilots claimed the title of ace and at least 20 claimed the title of Double Ace.
The P-40 originally was to have a supercharger, but all of them were redirected to the P-38s.
The P-40 had a supercharger. I think you meant to say it was intended to have a turbocharger in addition to the supercharger like the P-38. General Electric was the only maker. High temperature materials were still in their infancy so there were never enough turbochargers to go around. The AAF gave priority to P-38s, P-47s and bombers. The P-40 was left out. It's too bad Allison did not give it a two-speed supercharger like the Merlin.
While giving it more speed would have helped its top speed and climb stats, the P-40 was still not a turn plane. So all that would really give you is the ability to climb higher to start your boom and zoom attacks as chennault taught his pilots to do with the P40 they had. So redesigning the plane to get a merlin or modified twin charged alison engine would not have been viable to the government when by that time, the P-51 was already in the game. I do believe they tested P40s with the merlin, but it proved no better than a P51 or P47 already coming off the production lines.
@@Power5 I think two mks had 1300 hp Merlin,and it performed very well . Many went to Soviet union. I think it was the F and K model.
@@Power5 the F & L had the 2-speed Merlin XX. Better and more reliable performance at higher 23,000' altitude, but still not a 2-stage Merlin. Used for top cover over the Allison P-40s.
The P40 was Americas 'Hurricane', whilst overshadowed by the more glamorous P47 and P51 did an outstanding job and was able to bring the pilot home when other aircraft couldn't. If it had been given the Packard built 'Merlin' engine, who knows what it could have been capable of?
P-40 Warhawk Allison vs. Merlin
ua-cam.com/video/qKdnMZCA-9k/v-deo.html
The P-40 was better than the Hurricane and replaced them everywhere. the P-40F & L did receive the two speed P-Merlin (Merlin XX) . It couldn't take the heavier 2-stage 60 series Merlin.
Maybe not the best performing but certainly one of the best looking fighters of WWll.
I fell in love with this bird from the movie called Sky Captain.
Love the p-40. Like the F4F Wildcat the P-40 was rugged! And then large numbers available! I'm glad that there's more airworthy examples and there were back in the 70s. She is quite the movie star! There was a P-40 featured in the animated version of Planet of the Apes!. If I remember it had an image of an Apes head painted on the nose with big teeth LOL!
You could fly em thru hell and come out the other side. Tough bird! Nice lines, too.👍🇺🇸
W składzie Latających Tygrysów w 1943 roku walczył polski pilot Witold Urbanowicz, dowódca dywizjonu 303 w czasie Bitwy o Anglię.
You're doing well man, just disappointed to see there aren't many videos yet. 😊
Thank you! Unfortunately this format takes a lot of time to get things done, about 2 weeks. But it's also because I'm inexperienced. Will surely get faster at this.
thank you for the video and info my grandfather flew a p40 in ww2 he was shot down and lived drove milk truck 18 weeler after the war and died years later of type 2 diabetis im always trying to learn more about the p40 i wish i knew witch modle p40 he flew thanks again so much
I like your format, and am not suggesting a change. That being said, I think dive speed should be brought into the equation somehow. With a quick Google search I was not able to get a number, although one source rated the dive speed of the P-40 as “excellent”. At medium altitudes or higher a fighter with superior dive speed but otherwise inferior performance could ambush an enemy if it had an altitude advantage and could disengage from a losing dogfight. I believe many high-scoring aces preferred ambush over dogfight.
The single speed supercharger was almost automatically a deal-killer over Europe. The Soviets liked the plane, but liked the P-39 better. It would have been interesting if the Finns got ahold of the P-40, with their history of wringing the best out of aircraft considered hopelessly obsolete in other theaters.
I forgot to add that the P-40 is another example of pilot experience being more important than aircraft performance. The guys who learned to use its strengths fought well. And Marseilles would have scored just as many had the aircraft been reversed!
It should also be noted that the 109 and P-40 were close enough in speed down low that either could be faster depending on details. The A6M was considerably slower and almost impossible to maneuver if trying to keep up with well flown P-40. When comparing "maneuverability" you have to ask how high? How fast? Who's the pilot? What kind of load are they carrying? That's why the massive P-38s and US Navy fighters were able to easily outmaneuver "much more maneuverable" Japanese fighters.
Cheers!
If they had used the same Version of the Merlin engine that was in the Mk1X Spitfire, it would have been a great fighter.
Even just putting a supercharger/turbocharger on the Allison would have made it a great fighter but as used by the AVG is was used to its best aspects.
The P-40F had a Merlin engine, but it lacked the two speed supercharger used on the later mark Spitfires and Mustangs that gave them good high altitude performance. The P-40F, with the Merlin, had somewhat better performance than Allison engine variants, but not markedly so.
It was a bit small for the later 2000hp engines. They lengthened it for a power increase to about 1400hp.
I love your videos! I definitely am a new subscriber!!!
Thank you!
@@AllthingsWW2 when yoi will do Fokker D.XXI ?
@@no-nonseplayer6612 That is actually a great suggestion. I've been wanting to do something about Finland and the Winter War for a while. Can't promise a date, but now that you mentioned, it'll be sooner.
@@AllthingsWW2 your welcome i cant wait that video :)
2,799 P40's shipped to British Empire under Lend Lease plus 63 to Canada, 2,069 to USSR and 377 to China
Hyperwar Lend Lease shipments Army Air Forces
Only one short coming for this Warhawk ... short on power.
I wonder how they never put the Merling Engines like the Mustang who actually had an Allison wich i think was also a 12 cilynder engine so who knows
I know this is not in my video. Maybe in the future I will add it to the variants part, but I did skip the models F and L.
This is from the wikipedia:
"P-40F and P-40L, which both featured Packard V-1650 Merlin engine in place of the normal Allison, and thus did not have the carburetor scoop on top of the nose. Performance for these models at higher altitudes was better than their Allison-engined cousins. The L in some cases also featured a fillet in front of the vertical stabilizer, or a stretched fuselage to compensate for the higher torque."
and the reason why they didn't become more common:
"Although the P-40F was superior to the Allison powered P-40s, there was a shortage of Merlin engines due to the vast number of aircraft that used them. Parts for these engines were becoming scarce, and maintenance became an issue. As a result, at least 70 P-40Fs were re-engined with V-1710-81s of 1,360 hp.[2] These aircraft became known as P-40R-1s."
Cheers!
@@joserdiazalmodovar1898 one of the versions did use the Merlin. It was faster but not a huge improvement
But, it held the line...
@@johnbrooks595 She was there, everywhere, when the world needed her.
Great work Sir thank you
Thank you!
Thank you so much!
The P-40, like the P-39 and Brewster Buffalo, gained a bad reputation because it was thrown into the impossible situation at the beginning of the Pacific war. When flown by experienced pilots within their limits they could take on anything. It's tough to sort out accurate kill ratios but the concensus seems to be that their kill ratio, fighter against fighter, was a little over 2-1. Considering the fact that they started out at about 10-1 against I think that's pretty impressive.
I read one pilot report that said they dived the P-40 regularly at 500 MPH. it that faster than the P-51 & the P-40?
I always thought the P-40 was a handsome, sturdy, dependable-looking thing. Not Gary Cooper/Cary Grant handsome, but Spencer Tracy, or Eddie Albert handsome.
Great vídeo !! 👍👍👍
Thank you!
Very good. Thanks.
Overall, this video is a very good presentation. Reading the comments, it seems like many graduate students came to this undergraduate class.
I would describe the P40 as a tactical fighter or army co-operation fighter. Similar to an LaGG or Boomerang.
Well done.
Thank you!
Very good!
My favourite- along with the Corsair and Hurricane.
Say what you like about the P-40 but the sharks mouth never looked better on any other aircraft!
@ 3:11 Chennault is inspecting at P-51 not P-40
The F-4 version you have in the comparison, has its engine power slightly above what it should be. This is the power on late-war settings, but the earlier 109s could produce only about 1270hp at the time of the war in africa.
I didn't notice you say anything about the p40f in particular with the Packard engine that was the license version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. How did that aircraft perform separately than the Allison powered models?
It had a very slight edge above 15K feet but below the Allison had an edge, basically they were very equal and it was much easier from a logistical standpoint to support the Allison powered version. Also that version of the Packard Merlin was much in demand for the British Lancaster.
Tough and beautiful aircraft. Only fitting that the Flying Tigers flew them.
P-40 nose was tailor made for the shark mouth paint job.
no climb or dive speed in the head to head?
I've always wondered if they could have put the Engine The P-51 used in the P-40? The major weakness of their climb rate would have been much improved as well as upping the MPH on it.
i always want to see a P-40 have the P-51 engine in the P-40 but the P-51 steal the P-40 job ......😥
The P-40F and P-40L versions had Merlin engines. It did not do for them what it did for the P-51.
@@stevetobe4494 Flight Dynamics and weight issues didn't help!
@@dennisud The P-40 was less streamlined and did not have a laminar-flow airfoil like the P-51.
P-40 is one of the great American fighters of WWII.
The Allison engine designation is properly pronounced as "Vee-Seventeen-Ten".
I think the P40 was marginally superior to the hurricane and if used correctly a match for the zero BF109 and spitfire greatly superior to it
But like the Hurricane , it just kept going doing the donkey work.
Not sure if it was even with the Zero either , maybe in the hands of a skilled pilot , yes your right look what the AVG did with tactics against the Zekes
Not in a turn fight . That huge wing on the Hurricane could turn on a dime.
@@davegeisler7802 the P40 could turn very well at high speed... one of the AVG pilots noted that if you could keep the nose down and thus the speed up, the ailerons on the Japanese fighters locked up and you could turn inside them.
@@kieranh2005 good info , I knew the AVG did well against the Zeros in China with their tactics.. 👍
It’s strange seeing a p-40 without the mouth
The shark's mouth was on the Flying Tiger outfit only. Since then, only Air Force units that can trace their origins back to the Flying Tigers can use the shark mouth paint scheme.
@@barrygrant2907 The first P-40 unit with the shark mouth was the RAF 112 squadron in Africa.
Equal variants of P-40's and ME-109's.
Zero's had range because they were made of Paper, light-weight, zero armor.
thats true
My favorite American aircraft of world war ii! I don't care what they say about it this is the baddest looking plane out there!
Now I want a card game of WW2 aircraft, like a Top Trumps game 😍
Okay, Great plane. Now let's have something about the Bell Aerocobra in both versions.
I always found the P40 to be a beautiful aircraft.
Very nice 👌🏻
I never knew so many were made.
The P-40 was used in China's Flying Tiger group led by American pilot volunteers. You forgot to mention that Pappy Boyington as one of those eary Aces later on to lead the famed Coursair Squadron Ba Ba Blacksheep 🙃⁉️
I want to fly one of these in Warthunder with Australian 🇦🇺 markings!
I like how you mAke the plAnes from the photos visuAlly "pop out"
Australia used them in the pacific with great results
No. 75 Squadron's Defence of Port Moresby
ua-cam.com/video/biDuIzs8CYg/v-deo.html
The fact that Hans-Joachim Marseille cut down so many of these doesn't mean that this was a bad airplane. As the real flying ace Marseille was, he would have shot anny airplane no matter wich...but there was the P 40
I only know this as anecdotal evidence but the "sharkmouth" as painted on the "Flying Tigers" group was a copied from P40's as per used by a pre-war RAAF
I had heard the mouth was there because they got the planes from the Brits after they got new P40s
@@arnoldneubauer6363 hadnt heard that one, Arnold
Shark Teeth Nose Art on Military Planes
ua-cam.com/video/s1p5cDRA9F0/v-deo.html
Imagine if the p-40 was retrofitted with Merlin engine,what performance could it have?(also a bubble canopy)
Better but there were airframe limitations that meant it would never be on a par with the P51.
Shooting at bailed pilots just because your friend was shot down like that is like becoming a murdered because someone murdered your friend...
Works for me!
to me it always seemed like a very good platform that didn't get an engine comparable to what the top tier fighers like spit's, mustangs, thunders or 109's got. like could they have somehow put a good merlin in it how close could it have been to those top tier fighters?
ok, seems like some p40's did get a merlin engine... but not the beefy merlin the mustang's got.
The flying tigers that's what I'm talkin about the flying tigers knew how to use them
It's was Better Than F4F Wildcat in the Early Pacific.
Clive Caldwell. My Man
Jolly nasty business this shooting of enemy pilots under parachute but you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Glad I don't have to make the decision because after the blighters were trying to pump me or my mates with hot lead up the jacksie, I think given half a chance if I caught them under silk I'd shoot the kunce - out of pragmatism of course rather than vengeance.
I don't want them coming back. Of course for every enemy pilot I killed under a parachute I will never ever know how many of mine I saved.