Tag Archives: Kittyhawk

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, in war-time color!

An early P-40 Warhawk.

AT-6 Texan versus P-40 Warhawk.

A row of early P-40s, no information came with the photo.

Somewhere in China, date not given.

26th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, somewhere in China.

A pilot and his P-40.

Maintaining in Panama.

I got this from a silent color film, recorded sometime in 1942.  It shows the nose-names applied to newly arrived P-40E Warhawks (to replace the P-40B/Cs that were destroyed by the Japanese) on Hickam Field, Territory of Hawaii:

Before the Second World War started France had ordered hundreds of Curtiss P-40 fighters, but did not receive them due to being invaded by Germany. After the United States invaded Morocco, U.S. General James Harold ‘Jimmy’ Doolittle presided over the official delivery ceremony of Warhawks to the newly ‘liberated’ French Groupe de Chasse GC II/5 (aka Lafayette Escadrille), on Casablanca-Cazas airfield in Morocco, on the African continent. I edited from a collection of color silent films recorded by B. O’Conner on 09JAN1943 (the date of the official ceremony, in reality the U.S. had already equipped the French unit in November 1942):

Casablanca-Cazas airfield in Morocco, 09JAN1943.

U.S. Army Photo Division personnel incorrectly listed the above photo as being in Algeria (Algiers), it is from the 09JAN1943 ceremony in Morocco.

P-40 Warhawk, Aleutian Islands, 11DEC1943.

The U.S. Army photo-info says this is a ‘E’ version, but the tail looks like the ‘K’ version.

P-40 Warhawk over Mount Vesuvius, supposedly before it erupted on 18MAR1944.

Uncle Sam preps for War: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk