Warbird Obsession
It's an addiction. Admitting you have it is the first step.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- AirSpaceMag.com, December 03, 2008
John M. Dibbs / The Plane Picture Co.
The plucky Curtiss P-40 first flew in 1938. The single-engine, all-metal aircraft remained in service throughout World War II, and by December 1944, when production ceased, some 13,737 had been built.
When the United States entered the war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Forces’ fighter units, especially in the China-Burma-India Theater, most famously with the American Volunteer Group, or the Flying Tigers. The unit, the first real opposition the Japanese military encountered, destroyed 115 Japanese aircraft, losing only 11 airplanes in air-to-air combat.
In 1945, when 22-year-old Donald Lopez began instructing newly arrived pilots destined for China, he discovered some resistance to the aircraft. “Some of the students who had trained on P-51s took a dim view of having to fly the old P-40s,” Lopez, the late deputy director of the National Air and Space Museum, wrote in his memoir Into the Teeth of the Tiger. “They acted as though the P-40s were relics of World War I and never flew them enough to learn them as we did. They were not as fast as the newer fighters, but they were rugged, maneuverable, steady workhorses.”
The Curtiss P-40M pictured is part of the Fighter Collection based in Duxford, UK.
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Comments (7)
Nice photo and info about the P38.
My Mother's youngest brother was a photographer in the US Army, stationed in Australia during WWII. He was killed along with the other crew while on a recon mission over New Guinea in a P38 in late 1942. The wreckage was not found until 1961 and the remains, identified by dog-tags, are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Posted by R. C. Rogers on December 22,2008 | 02:44 PM
Saw a Spitfire fly in Owls Head ,Maine in the late 1970s. I heard the owners last name was Rockefeller,and it was WONDERFUL to HEAR that engine going at "full chat" at about 500 ft with a pilot who was driving it like he stole it! I still have the photos of that great plane from that great day on my desk, 30 years after... The magic of that day has allowed the smells,sounds, and SIGHTs to remain with me. It was a very good day!
Posted by Brian Beauregard on August 31,2009 | 09:21 PM
In 1955 I was just back from learning to fly an Aeronca when our little remote grass field on a hilltop was buzzed by a F-51 from the New York National Guard. (This happened several times that summer.) That was it and my obsession continues. The gathering of mustangs in Ohio was sensory overload. My Air Force duty just pacified my need to be near aircraft but B-47's just didn't do it. Went to an air show once and 3 Mustangs in a tight formation picture pass with Merlins wide open, Wow! said to my adult son "damn that's better than sex", he did give me a strange look but I could see he also understood. My dream even at 71 is to someday take a ride in Crazy Horse down in Kissimmee, Fl. My finger prints are on her as she was at Ohio.
Posted by Don Brooks on December 4,2009 | 10:28 PM
Warbird aviation is an addiction that gets inside almost everyone because it stimulates all of your senses thouroughly!-"How can you not appreciate and marvel at what history has given to us as pilots,to fly or engage in at some level as crew or spectators"!
Posted by Kent Carlomagno on January 2,2010 | 12:33 PM
I bought this book for my son Jacob, who immediately spotted that his favorite aircraft of the period, the B-29, was not included. In such a comprehensive survey, one wonders why?
Posted by sam Engelstad on April 17,2010 | 11:33 AM
The P-47N model could hold two 1,000 pound bombs, one 500 pound bomb, eight .50 caliber guns, and ten HVAR rockets.
Posted by Josh on January 20,2011 | 06:00 PM
I consider myself very fortunate, I am a Docent at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett. I get to watch these planes fly from Memorial Day until September. This is Paul Allen's private collection.
Posted by Alan Gale on March 4,2011 | 04:12 PM