Flying the P-40N Kittyhawk
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Helmet-cam and narration of loops and rolls in the P-40N Kittyhawk with Dave Hadfield, July 2020, Gatineau, Canada.
Song "On Track" from the album "Climbin' Away" (c)2018 Dave Hadfield www.hadfield.ca
Aircraft is owned by Mike Potter, and flown in association with Vintage Wings of Canada www.vintagewings.ca
NOTE: There are many comments about how long it takes to go through the checklists and get the thing airborne. In combat the ground crews would have started the engines and done the mag checks etc before sunrise. As soon as the pilots appeared on the airfield they'd go to their aeroplane, talk to the crew about it, check that all the switches and levers were in the right position for a Scramble, and -- very important! -- arrange the parachute and harness "just-so" for a quick strap-in-and-go; and brief the ground crew about exactly how they were going to coordinate the startup and launch. BUT... I fly many different aircraft types, our ground crew have many different duties, and we have no time-imperative. So we use checklists -- which have been shown many times to reduce the "oh-crap-forgot-that" mistakes.
I'm almost 70 years old but the first time I flew a P-40 was it in Houston Texas in 71 I think I was 18 years old my instructor and he was really love my flying and he owned three p-40s at the time and a couple of P-51 flew the P51 when I was 19 then join the airforce been flying ever since
Hi Dave, some history to expand on a few of the comments. This aircraft was originally ordered by the Australian Air Force (RAAF) during WW2. Of the 850 plus P-40's ordered from the US 553 were N series. This aircraft was flown in combat by RAAF 78 Squadron B Flight in New Guinea. Designated A29-414 my father, the late George Sheppard, flew it 3 times in training back in Australia and once in combat on November 24, 1943 as high cover escort for US B24's off the north coast of New Guinea. Flight time 2 hours 45 minutes. Dad's usual aircraft at the time A29-400 was being serviced that day.
So here we are some 77 years later thanks to you I can see, feel and hear where my father sat all those many many years ago. Cheers Dave and to all who look after such a precious part of aviation history. Pass the tissues please - Oh harden up and just enjoy the show - Trevor Sheppard (Gold Coast, Australia).
The Dude, well that's a great connection. What a wonderful surprise! Please contact me at my email, dave at hadfield.ca, and I can connect you with more info about the people and aircraft of 78 Sqn. Many photos.
At what altitude was he flying top cover for B-24s? 15,000-18,000' ?? In North Africa, bombers typically flew at 12,000'.
@@bobsakamanos4469 Stocky told me they rarely were issued oxygen in the P-40 during that campaign, so probably not much above 15000.
@@davehadfield5906 The P-40 Allison wasn't getting oxygen either at 15,000. P-40F's with Merlins had better performance up there. My father, flying P-40K's in Stocky's wing liked flying in the desert - no hayfever.
That was on of the most informative warbird videos I have ever seen. Not only did you teach us a lot, but you didn’t drown out the glorious sound of an Allison V-1710. Well done!
Perhaps too much of the glorious sound ?
Totally agree. It was like flying with Mr. Rogers.
@@stevejette2329 Never!
...what's so glorious about that sound? Compared to a P&W 2800 or a Merlin...
@@stranraerwal any large piston engine of this era is a glorious sound. If you can’t hear it, I am sorry for you. The closest you can come to these old large displacement engines in sound is the Lycoming GO-480.
My uncle Paul commanded a training squadron of P-40s at March Field. Pilots would come in after training on an AT-6 to learn gunnery, dive bombing, air-to-air tactics, strafing, combat formations and whatever else they could teach them before they went overseas to fly newer and more demanding airplanes like P-47s and P-51s. They watched a couple of films on day one. Day two was the classroom classroom familiarization and cockpit check with a blindfold test at the end of the day plus homework for memorization. Day three was a homework quiz plus one hop in a TP-40 trainer and on days 4 you soloed with a check pilot chasing you and more homework that night for another memorization quiz in the morning. After that, every day it was quiz, classroom training, flight briefing, training flight, debriefing and more homework. His training officer and XO really worked the guys hard, when they were done with them they could transition into anything with ease.
Amazing. So glad that there are people with the means to preserve these historic aircraft. Thank you for sharing with us, and safe flying!
Indeed but the FAA, etc don't like it. They are a little prone to mishaps. There's going to be a time when all the beautiful warbirds are grounded.
Great video. The P-40 has been my favorite aircraft ever since I watched a movie about the Flying Tigers back in the 40s. Yeah, I'm an old guy.
Ditto.
Read ‘God is my copilot’ in 1958
@@richardwoodman6569 Correct, but your date is a little off. I saw it at Ft. Sill, OK where my dad was stationed 1946 - 1950. Movies on post cost all of ten cents for kids back then.
There are some airplanes that just look right-"fit for purpose", and the P40 always looked like what to wear when hunting.
That taxi along the runway with the 150 reminds me of the time when i was early on in my journey of learning to fly, and i got to share the pattern with a P-51. They're quite rare here in the UK so you can imagine how excited I was following him in to land and my home field. Got to have a chat with the pilot/owner, lovely guy he gave us a bit of a show as he departed. It's my dream to fly Warbirds one day and the P-40 is on my top 5 that i'd love to get rated on
Green with envy here. That would have been a bucket list flight for me - and many others. As a former USAF IP, you had me nodding with your Lazy 8 comments. SO true. Anybody can yank and bank, but flying a perfect Lazy 8 separates the true pilots from the mere airplane drivers.
Very Nice, thank you for sharing, my father was a P-40 pilot in the flying Tiger over in China, so very special to me.
Omg that’s so cool I love the flying tigers
You make it look so easy, I tip my hat to you sir
Excellent piloting, articulate commentary. Thank you for the virtual ride along.
The P-40 is my all-time favorite. Not the fastest, not the most advanced, but reliable, and available when needed. My grandfather, a WWII veteran, was not an airman, but was friends with ground crew in the Pacific theatre. They appreciated the reliability and ease of maintenance of the Allison engine. This was even more so at the basic air fields typical of the CBI and Pacific Theatres.
I am a former Navy Fighter Pilot and one of my best days was when I flew in to an air show. I was just a static display but at the show were all kinds of WWII birds. I got to sit in a Mustang, a Warhawk, and was near the end of the runway when a Hellcat came Rumbling (and I DO mean RUMBLING) by for take off. That radial monster was a beast! The Merlin of course was something else in the 51, and the Allison in the P-40. From what I understand, they originally planned an Allison in the Mustang, but it was not successful, I think due to the absence of a super-charger(?). Very nice video.
All Allisons had a single stage supercharger t that time. the merlin was also a single stage supercharged at that time but they had a 2 nd speed gear to turn the single stg esupercharger a little faster at altitude. but the Allison still out performed the merlin. the Later60 series 2 stage merlin did not exist until late 1942 early 1943, The P40 ike the Hurricane never got a later 2 stage supercharger, and the first Mustangs, 620 Mk I & II and 500 A36's and about 1000 P51A's were all Allison powered as the merlin was NOT available in the USA until late 1942 and they were still the 20 series single stage Made by Packard for the Brits !!! FYI
Thank you SO much for taking care of this old girl, and for taking the trouble to make this video. I'm 75, used to maintain GCA RADAR and TACAN at NAS Miramar
Loved this video.
My father served in the Desert Air Force in WW2 and it was so interesting to see all the procedures he would have done and when you started flying it was as if I was actually flying it.
I see the aircraft was in the Desert Air Force camouflage with RAF roundels and the squadron letters were HS which is the same 260 Squadron my father flew with.
An interesting fact about 260 squadron is that the Intelligence Officer was actor Christopher Lee.
My father was unaware of this fact until a friend told him his name was in Mr Lee's autobiography. The reason why my father was unaware, was they all called the Intelligence Office "spy"...
Apologies for the long comment.
Thank you for that cockpit view of the world! I’m a former pilot and this brought back memories !
Great.
Have you flown a P-40?
As a kid I bought a lot of p40 models, it was my favorite airplane. I still hope I get to fly in one someday.
Thank you for the video
God bless
Great video my grandfather helped build these. He worked at the Curtiss factory in Kenmore NY for about 10 years from 1938-1948 as a welder.
You are one of the few luckiest guys in the world to be living that dream.
Thanks for that Dave and Mike! And here is to William “Black Mac” McGarry, my name sake, who flew with the General Chennault’s Flying Tigers. He shot down 12 aircraft before being taken down by ground fire...which he survived and he lived on until 1990 🐅
Fantastic video. Really enjoyed the ride along and commentary!
Felt like I was flying the P-40 myself, thank you for sharing . I admire those that have the means to keep these valuable war birds going. Thank you so much for flying for us , it looked like you were having a good time.
I highly appreciate this very well filmed and narrated flight of this lovely bird. This is extremely valuable for most of us warbird enthusiasts. Thank you.
You're a lucky guy. This is a good format by the way. Zoomers and Millenials like short intros (or none), simple titles, and just the sounds of the plane with your commentary interspersed. Your Fox Moth video with that footage from the 30s was great. Really nicely done. This is the way 👍. I hope the world will see more of these. It's relaxing and really interesting.
Thanks. It's all new to me.
THAT was a GREAT video,...I can't thank you enough for sharing that flight. The simple aerobatics brought back a multitude of memories for me. What a bird.
Very good video, when you see the plane, how you sit in the cockpit, see the controls of this magnificent plane, it sends me back to those times of the Second World War, and what the pilots saw at that time, their feelings, their adrenaline, the thought that they were not coming back, so many and so many thoughts that they must have had at the time of takeoff and that many of them offered their lives to have this free world today, honor to whom honor deserves, how many feelings they wake up to see this that you do now after so many years of this plane already saved in the history of aviation .... congratulations and keep uploading these types of videos.
The P-40 was limited because it wasn't given a two staged supercharger. It would have been so much better at altitude. The P-39 Airacobra was plagued by the same problem. This was shortsightedness of the Army Air Corp. These two acft are my favorites on the American fighters. Nice videos, a lot like the Kermie cams, loved it.
The 2 stage the army wanted to use was a TURBOcharger feeding the mechanical supercharger, only problem most fighters did not have room for them. Only the P38 with the Allison and the P47 with the PW R2800 were 2 staged turbocharged in WWII plus the B17 and the B24.
"That would be a waste" that made me chuckle and its damn true. Thank for your your entertaining videos from the 15-yearold in me obsessed by flight and VW airplanes.
What a superb video, interesting, informative and well narrated without unnecessary musical interference. Lord, doesn't she roll well! Makes this old Cessna driver very envious, you lucky man. . . .
Thanks!
Just think of all the kids flying those back in the day. Had to be a dream.
Thanks ever so much for taking us along on that fantastic ride and explaining all that you were doing and what was going on What a beautiful airplane And a fantastic job flying her
Dear David, we are all captivated by this fine aircraft, and the cockpit views,
but also by your remarkably pleasant and easy going personality, refreshing.
Thank you, Thank you, thank you !!!
I have been a P-40 fan since I was a little boy. I found an old P-40 Gas model that was flown with a string guide, much like a kite handle and string controller when I was 7 at a ball field that someone had thrown away in a trash dumpster. I took it home and repaire it, put a new model engine in it, and flew that plane until the string broke one day when I was in my late 30's and it completely shattered in million pieces. I've read every book I can on the P-40, I fly it in the video game WarThunder, but I have never been up in one........you just gave me the next best thing !!! it was awesome !!! Your narrative of the starting checklist, your commentary of the turbulence from the wheels turning sideways while stowing......EVERYTHING was awesome ! Thank You Dave.
Im a retired old 82nd Airborne Paratrooper now in my late 50's and disabled from a parachuting accident in 2003, so my dreams of getting my FULL pilots license have been dashed, but I am studying for my SPORT license.......maybe I will find a P-40 KIT plane with my name on it someday !! hahahaha thank you for the video.
We had one of those line-control models too. I was wrecked on takeoff when our big yellow lab jumped in front of it. But I'm glad you liked the video!
Stumbled onto your videos and am impressed with the view we armchair pilot wannabes get as well as the informative commentary! I hope you'll do more!
In a marine related story from Vancouver/Victoria, the author mentions taking one of the many coastal ships plying the West Coast during early days of WWII. Pat Bay Air Station was located at what would become Victoria Intl. CYYJ. At the time it was a conversion training centre, among other duties, for young airmen learning to fly advanced fighter aircraft after the Harvard and others. The ones that had successfully transitioned were supposed to go out and about to groom their skills. As there were many passenger ships travelling to and fro or up and down the Gulf of Georgia, they would often practice their strafing skills on those ships much to the delight of most onboard and on decks. I imagine it gave all a little bit of confidence both seeing their Air Force boys showing they would know what to do when the real thing happened but also the young airmen able to line up and practice on a real ship. It may have been a different book, but a sad side of training occurred at Pat Bay when a young brand-new pilot was to fly his first flight as there were no dual-pilot P-40s it was sink or swim. In this case he lost control while taxiing too fast and the aircraft crashed, caught on fire, and before he had a chance to fight for his country, he perished. That is not how the Air Force saw it however, and he was honoured just the same as a Canadian hero. As soon as you mentioned some of the hairier aspects of taxiing, I immediately thought of this story. One more item regarding Pat Bay. It was one of the places where surplus P40s were sent after the war to be auctioned off or sold for scrap depending on their condition. I can't remember for sure, but I think you could buy a flying P40 for about $5,000. including all the spares you could haul away. Hollywood tends to show Americans flying all of the hot warbirds of the day, but I know Canadians excelled just as well with all of the same aircraft and with distinction.
Good story, but sad, and very true.
Excellent ride-along and narration! This is the closest I will ever get to flying a warbird, thank you for the ride!
Imagine how quick they took to the air in combat.
yeah. but then it did not matter, if you stressed the engine or airframe, the plane would get shot down, long before it would be damaged by too much stress...
Maintenance or aircraft mechanic would have them set up and ready for quick start and go, max two minutes.
Going through that checklist made me wonder what they did to "scramble" an intercept. What did the mechanics do that abbreviated that process?
@@ChrisGurin the checklist would be performed every morning before dawn. Engines would be warmed up and prepped, and basically ready to go at the press of a button.
A great plane The P40 Curtiss, easy to fly to low altitude , to maintain and so agile and robust. During war his weak point was the engine start to cough in hight altitude.It why they replace him in 1943.
Don't know why, but the P40 has always been my favorite WW2 plant. Great seeing one fly from the cockpit. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for taking us along
Sweet bird, awesome engine sound and excellent narration!
Thank you!
Thanks a lot for taken the time getting this up across the community. Really enjoyed it felt like sitting myself in the cockpit always love those old war birds. My favorite ones are the Supermarine Spitfire, De Havilland Mosquito and Hawker Hurricane. And of course most of all the old war birds the first thing i can think about if somebody talks about the P-40 Kittyhawk is the Shark Nose Art...
Excellent, my favorite fighter ever since I received the Cox version as a young lad!
Thanks for the ride along. That was a blast!
Great video an explanations. My sleeping 5 year old daughter in the 150 says hi.
Bonjour!
How awesome is that! Being a corporate/charter pilot of jets, this is a whole different world and the P40 has always been a favorite of mine.
Fantastic video. Great to hear the thoughts of the pilot throughout the flight ✈✈
Well that was just splendid. I didn't know there was a vintage aircraft collection just across the Ottawa River, in Gatineau.
I love the line where he says just because we’re flying at cruise level power doesn’t mean you have to fly straight and level, that would be a waist! Take me up! I also love that right turn out of a left roll. If I was in a dogfight I would do that a lot, jinking around to get an enemy plane off my tail.
Very interesting. Great video. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have been a pilot back in WWII and having to take the plane off under stress?
probably the mechanics were maintaining their squadron ready for scramble with emergency procedures...
@@laurentpenot2656 You don't hear nearly enough about the line mechanics of that period. I was USAF in the 1970s, and we all had our "part of the bird" that we worked on (me -avionics). Nothing like the kind of pressure those guys dealt with.
Keep the beers up to you’re ground crew
Imagine in a combat situation what the pilot had to go through . Brave men . On the ground and in the air .
Well done! I love these videos with the startup to shutdown with with the details from the checklists. It would be awesome to see one for the Corsair too someday.
Wow! Fun AND very informative! Thanks Dave, and thanks Robin for posting!
I know everyone has their own favorite aircraft from WWII. The P-40 is mine. Built before America's entry into the war, and served well in many theaters. Not the finest American fighter aircraft? OK. But it was there when it was needed, and looks fantastic!
It has a beautiful lope.
P-40s are my #3 favorite. Thank you for a great flight and good instruction on how to.
Amazing. Great flying in such an iconic aircraft. Thank you.
Awesome vid, I wanna see more. The f4f, f6f, F4U1, all of them.
Fantastic video! Super well done, thanks for sharing!
For me it was (and is) a good touch to see the livery of the plane which is of course Dennis Copping's P-40, famous/infamous for being found at it's crash-site in the desert and then disgustingly 'renovated' and kept outside the Cairo War Museum.
As an addition to my previous comment it is interesting that Japanese war production records showing the Zero, and other fighter types optimized for 12,000 ft combat effectiveness (even though it had a much higher altitude ceiling). Records show that this altitude choice was a result of Japanese current knowledge of the P-40s supposed combat envelope (i.e.) not much good above 15,000 ft, and supposedly sluggish in climb and turn. I spoke with Tex Hill, and have read the books, and accounts of the AVG (Read God is My Co-Pilot). They routinely operated at 18,000 ft, would dive on the Japanese, do a drive by "shoot em up" then dive on through with evasive maneuvers, zoom climb back above the Japanese and hit them again, and again. The P-40 would out turn the Zero in a sustained high speed turn (+300 knots), easily out dive the Japanese fighters, was faster, and could certainly perform above 15,000ft. In war one does not want one's enemies to know the true capabilities of one's weapons! The P-40 in experienced hands was better than the USAAF wanted anyone (enemy or not) to know about. The fact of Japanese fighters optimized at 12,000 ft kind of shows that the Japanese "bought into" the down graded supposed combat envelope of the P-40. I believe a lot of the bad press about the P-40 was deliberate scuttlebut, and also based on inexperienced pilots, yet still seems to project the P-40s supposed mediocre reputation to this day.
Yes. Also with the AVG, the Japanese bombers were not high altitude, and so the escort fighters had to come down to protect them. This fact is not usually considered but tactically it was the key point. And, the AVG often fought the Ki-27 Nate (fixed-gear fighter) in the early days, not the Zero or Oscar.
Very interesting commentary, Dave, but how could the P-40 outturn a Zero? Also, how did the P-40 fare vs the Me109 in combat?
What a great and educational video,and nice to see the plane had British markings .
Interesting as I lived in Honiara as a kid 1968 to 1970, we flew in on Fiji Airways HS 748 landing at Munda airfield ( old WW2 fighter strip which still had the WW2 metal matting in parts of it) as the main airfield was closed for destruction of a large unexploded bomb under the main runway. Henderson airfield was the main one as I recall. Our RNZAF flew one of the P40 variants from there during WW2 Regards Laurie New Zealand
Crazy to think of how those teen men abbreviated the startup and preflight in a scramble after watching a seasoned high time professional going through the checklist methodically, those wartime machines must have been exquisitely maintained and prepared - oh if I were alive back then.
I address that point in the Description section of the video.
An absolute dream. Ive had stick time in warbirds including the harvard and stearman (and even the yak-52) but truly learning to fly them is a big goal
Great video and narration. Thanks.
Awesome thank you. No straight and level love it, wow such a maneuverable aircraft. And thanks to all that keep these machines flying for us.
What a beautiful bird! You are blessed
Nice job Dave !
Gracias por darnos la oportunidad de volar aunque sea así virtualmente... Thank you sir
"Haven´t been in a P-40 since....last year."
Achievement won "Flex of the month".
I loved the music outro! Has no one noticed that it’s Mr. Hadfield’s song?🤘😎
Thanks!
Excellent video! Feeling like me in the cockpit and flying P-40
Loved it. Thanks for taking us with you.
Is it true that around three Alison V1710s could be built to one RR Merlin? Read years ago that the production methods and design of the Alison meant it could be produced faster? A real shame that the boost system wasn't up to the high altitude combat of the ETO in the early part of WW2 as nothing could pull high-speed turn like a P40. Surprisingly it looks like a much better view down past the engine cowling than its contemporaries like the Hurricane or Spitfire!
Yes and no. The Allison only has about 65% of the parts-tally of the Merlin, which is bound to make production easier. When Packard reverse-engineered the Merlin they set up production using US methods, so my understanding is these ones were built faster than the Merlins built by R-R, which involved considerable handwork.
Yes, that sounds more like what I actually read. I'm surprised at the roll rate of the P40. Do you know if it's better than the Bf 109 E, F or G? I've read a fair amount about the RAF and RAAF using the P40 in the Desert campaign. Australian ace Clive Cardwell was a great fan of the P40 and did really well against the Luftwaffe and RA. I recall him saying that as long as you could keep the action below around 15,000ft you could easily mix it with the 109.
@@marcconyard5024 Yes. Stocky Edwards was another. The 109 ailerons stiffen-up at higher speed, I understand. Haven't flown one.
Another nice video. I am surprise as how many types of planes you can fly. I am jealous. Thanks again.
That was cool!
Beautiful
very nicely done Video thanks Dave. It's as close to the real thing that most of us other Pilot's will get, and gives a great sense and feel of what it must be like. Cheers
Love these airplanes!
Great fun! Thank you!
My respect for all pilots is high (no pun intended) but is now affirmed for the wartime generation of aviators: that is a damned busy checklist to run under life and death pressure.
This is a common remark. In truth, during wartime the aircraft were pre-flighted and warmed up by ground crews, so during a scramble the pilots could just jump in, hit the starter, do up the straps and go. But I don't have that situation, and my 28,000 hours encourages me to use a checklist.
great video dave congratulation
i love this plane
Thanks for a great NO BS video
Great video there Dave. Love the way you explain what you are doing and how the aircraft responds!
Thanks for the Ride Dave!!! Sure enjoy these kinds of Videos
That was fantastic - years ago think Discovery had a show that was quite similar, pick WWII planes each episode and walk through the complete process of getting it off the ground - Love this!
At last someone who flies a true Immelman....flying all the time! Great video, thank you
Thank you Dave for this great demo of professional flying together with accurate explanations about this good old girl. Happy landings and stay healthy.
Beautiful aircraft the p40 and nice to fly.
Great video.. seems so responsive.. what a machine
Thanks for the ride along! Fantastic!
superb video.. loved it
Thanks a lot for the fly!!!
Please never stop making these videos.
~ smiles ~
Your videos are fantastic. Very well done and all my favorite aircraft. Thanks a bunch!
Thanks for making this video and giving us a ride! I just saw a video detailing the history of the P40 and was reminded that the Red Tails flew Warhawks before getting their P51's. I love the styling, the music from the Allison and the iconic nose art.
Excellent inside experience of managing the P-40 systems..
Good day, Mr. Hadfield. Thank you for for providing this most enjoyable video! I have been fascinated by the P-40's since childhood. This video was very informative and entertaining. Warm regards from South Africa.
Thanks for sharing this with all of us. Wow, is all I can say!