Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
Not the best fighter in the war — but a stopgap that held the line everywhere at once.
The P-40 lacked the altitude performance of contemporary European fighters, but it was available in huge numbers at a time when the Allies desperately needed any modern fighter at all. From North Africa to China, it fought well enough — and its shark-mouthed nose art made it legendary.
01Pre-war production priority meant P-40s were present at Pearl Harbor and across the Far East when the war expanded. In the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, and over Darwin, they were outclassed by the A6M Zero but kept fighting.
02Became the iconic mount of Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") in China, whose blue-shark-mouth paint scheme became one of the most famous liveries in aviation history. Tactics of dive-and-zoom, never dogfighting with Zeros, yielded a highly favourable exchange rate.
03Served with distinction in North Africa with the RAF and Commonwealth air forces, where its ruggedness and fighter-bomber versatility were valued over outright performance. Remained in production until 1944 despite being obsolete by then.
Theatres of operation
- ·North Africa
- ·Pacific
- ·China-Burma-India
- ·Eastern Front
Principal operators
- ·USAAF
- ·RAF/Commonwealth
- ·Soviet VVS
- ·AVG "Flying Tigers"
Others in the same fight.
Supermarine Spitfire
Mk.I — Mk.24
Hawker Hurricane
Mk.I — Mk.IV
North American P-51 Mustang
P-51B / C / D / K
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47C / D / M / N