Re: Anyone flying the CMP P-40 140?

---------------

I agree that they were obsolete before WWII started, i.e. the A5M (Zero) and the Me-109. However, the media just happened to like the P-40 a lot and that is what shaped my childhood preceptions of what was hot in those days. The painted on mouths of the Flying Tigers certainly helped in that regard. Remember, I was a little tike back then.

Ed Cregger

You're catching on.

Ed Cregger

"The OTHER Kev>

I have too many choices for powerplants (thank you wife) to know as yet. I don't mind cutting up the cowl, since I'm just a hacker anyway (pardon the pun).

I have a Thunder Tiger 1.20 Pro two-stroke with a Slimline muffler, a G2300 with a Slimline muffler, an Evolution 26GT with a Bisson muffler and a Brillelli 25GT (Toro conversion). Oh and a 40cc SPE that would probably fit. Knowing me, it will most likely be the Thunder Tiger 1.20 Pro.

Thanks for the response, Desmobob.

Ed Cregger

There was more to it. It was available and just like the F4F Wildcat, helped to stop the onslaught until better aircraft were developed during the latter part of the war.

It could absorb a good deal of punishment and in the hands of a skilled pilot who understood its strengths and weaknesses, could hold its own against the more agressive Japanese and German aircraft.

It lacked a 2-stage supercharger and thus could not compete well at high altitude. But at lower altitudes, it could out dive the Japanese and German aircraft and it could turn tightly. It had adequate combat radius.

Similar to the Wildcat, pilots developed tactics using diving techniques. P40 has an impressive kill ratio.

It was also cheaper to produce than the later aircraft, close to 14K worth were produced by the end of the war. With an aggressive enemy chomping at the bit, sometimes quantity is better than quality.

It concerns me that the US is concentrating on strictly on expensive technology and small quantities. If technology were the ruling factor, the Germans and Japanese would have won the war.

Wikipedia has a good article on the plane.

Kinda' like some of the replies I've seen on this NG. ;-)

Not just technology, but training. Red Flag/Top Gun have done wonders for the skill of US pilots.

But it's the planes, too... for example, the F-15 has never lost an aerial encounter. One even got back to base after a mid-air collision with an A-4 in which it lost most of a wing. See: