Curtiss P-40 Warhawk 1/48 Hasegawa 09088

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
1/48   Aircrafts, Planes
Hasegawa 09088

Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/48
Material: Plastic
Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawkwhich reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by mostAllied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter, after the P-51 and P-47; by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built,all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities at Buffalo, New York.

P-40 warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, making it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the nameTomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

P-40s first saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of theDesert Air Force in the Middle East and North African campaigns, during June 1941.he P-40's lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffefighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 or the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East,Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40's performance at high altitudes was not as important in those theaters, where it served as an air superiority fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber. Although it gained a postwar reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, recent research including scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons, indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses but also taking a very heavy toll of enemy aircraft,especially when flown against the lightweight and maneuverable Japanese fighters like the Oscar and Zero in the manner recommended in 1941 by General Claire Chennault, the AVG's commander in southern China. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground-attack aircraft long after it was obsolete as a fighter. In 2008, 29 P-40s were airworthy.Caldwell found the P-40C Tomahawk's armament of two .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning AN/M2 "light-barrel" dorsal nose-mount synchronized machine guns and two .303Browning machine guns in each wing to be inadequate.This was rectified with the P-40E Kittyhawk, which abandoned the synchronized gun mounts and instead had three .50 in (12.7 mm) guns in each wing, although Caldwell preferred the Tomahawk in other respects. It had armor around the engine and the cockpit, which enabled it to withstand considerable damage. This was one of the characteristics that allowed Allied pilots in Asia and the Pacific to attack Japanese fighters head on, rather than try to out-turn and out-climb their opponents. Late-model P-40s were regarded as well armored. Visibility was adequate, although hampered by an overly complex windscreen frame, and completely blocked to the rear in early models due to the raised turtledeck. Poor ground visibility and the relatively narrow landing gear track led to many losses due to accidents on the ground.

P-40 Warhawk Tomahawk / Kittyhawk
A Hawk 87A-3 (Kittyhawk Mk IA) serial numberAK987, in a USAAF 23d Fighter Group (the former "Flying Tigers") paint scheme, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Role	Fighter aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Curtiss-Wright Corporation Buffalo, New York