Wish I knew as much about Triumphs, but in case you're interested:
The P-40 was developed in 1937 from the P-36 Mohawk, built
by Curtis Aircraft. The P-36 was sold overseas to many countries
including France and China as the H-75 Hawk (with many sub-models,
denoted Hawk 75A-1, 75A-4, etc.) The US Army Air Corps bought a
small number of P-40Bs, many P-40C Tomahawks, and many P-40E
Kittyhawks. P-40Cs were exported to the RAF as the Tomahawk II.
The primary change between the C and E versions was
the armament, growing from 4 to 6 to 8 .50 cal guns. I think the RAF
may have installed .303 Brownings in their aircraft to make them
common with the Hurricane.
P-40Cs equipped the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers.)
A mix of P-40Cs and P-40Es were in the Phillipines in Dec 41.
Several P-40Bs and P-36s got off the ground from a satellite
field in Hawaii (Haleiwa) on Dec 7 '41, claiming 4 victories in
total. P-40Es were used in China, South Pacific, and North Africa
through 1942. The P-40 was also produced in the K and N variants,
and used in ground attack roles, but retired as the P-47 entered
service.
Although the shark's mouth looked great on the air scoop of
these planes, I for one won't paint it on the front of the 4A :-)
At 05:56 AM 02/25/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
>>> *******************************
>>> Actually it was the Curtiss P40 Warhawk, sorely underpowered - but non the
>>> less, a awesome looking plane -
>>>
>>And called the Tomahawk by the RAF
>>Stu
>
>I'm sure there was a KittyHawk too!! In fact I thought that's what it was
>that got shot down in the film 'Tobruk'
>
>Hmm, me see's a touch of web surfin' comin' on here. :-)
>
>Rich
>***************************************
>Yep, your right, were talking about the same plane. I forgot you guys
>"across the pond" (over in the old country) called it the "Kittyhawk" for
>some reason!!
>
>
>Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
>
>72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
>70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
>70 Spitfire (project)
>73 Ford Courier (parts hauler, rain vehicle)
>
>
Cliff Hansen
chansen@exis.net
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