3/14/2021 0 Comments Warhawk Plane
In 1933, after the Curtiss Model 66 lost to the Boeing P-26 during a USAAC fly-off, Curtiss was determined to retain its dominance as an Army Air Corps contractor and hired Donovan R.The Curtiss P-40 was a sturdy fighter and innumerable pilots owe their lives to its rugged quality.Remembered as a best second choice, it served with twenty-eight Allied and friendly nations.
If you can see the video controls but the video doesnt play click the link below. The Curtiss P-40 was a workhorse, much like the Hawker Hurricane and served in almost every theater of the Second World War. Both praised and vilified, the fact remains it bore much of the brunt of the air warfare over many battle fronts. For lack of a dependable supercharger, 1 it was designed as a medium-altitude fighter making its performance less than desirable. Compared to the Mitsubishi Zero and Messerschmitt bf 109, it was for all practical purposes outclassed as soon as it came off the assembly line. However, it was available in quantity and its shortcomings were partly compensated by its docile flight characteristics, and sturdiness which enabled it to withstand a considerable amount of punishment. Developed from the Curtiss P-36 Hawk, the inaugural flight of the XP-40 was on October 14, 1938 and it offered little improvement over the P-36 design except for a streamlined nose with the installation of the Allison V-1710 inline engine. In fact, the prototype was actually constructed from the tenth P-36A airframe. Since it was readily available for mass production, it was chosen over the Lockheed XP-38 and Bell XP-39 during the US Army Air Corps pursuit competition held on January 25, 1939. The P-40 cost about 53,000, the P-39 was 71,000 and the P-38 cost 126,000. However, the purchase of thirteen each of YP-38s and YP-39s were approved the same day. In the early 1930s, no prospect of high-altitude attack was envisioned for the USA. In 1931, bomber and pursuit aircraft performance were just about on par with each other and the Boeing B-9 Bomber was faster than any other bomber in the world. It was so fast that existing American fighters had trouble intercepting it. The B-9 had a maximum speed of 188 mph (302 kmhr), while the Boeing P-12E pursuit airplane had a speed of 189 mph (304 kmhr) and the Curtiss P-6E Hawk could do 197 mph (317 kmhr) only under ideal conditions. ![]() ![]() It wasnt until the Seversky P-35 won the in the 1935 fighter design competition that pursuit aircraft were approaching speeds of 300 mph. This made it apparent that the USAAC strategy was becoming out-of-date which emphasized costal defense and ground attack, and the Bell P-39 Airacobra and P-40 were envisioned as low-altitude aircraft for ground support operations. This is not to say the US strategy was completely wrong, because when World War II began, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was the only strategic bomber available when the war began. So in May 1939, as the winds of war were approaching, the Army ordered 524 production P-40s which was at that time the largest-ever production order for a US fighter, totaling nearly 13 million dollars. As a result, during the early part of World War II, the P-39 and P-40 comprised of more than half of the USAAF fighters committed overseas. However, by July 1943, as superior fighter deliveries increased, only one P-40 group remained operational in July 1945. ![]() The P-40s roots date back as far as 1924 with the famed Curtiss Hawk fighters being the best all around US pursuit aircraft.
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