The P-40 was the primary US fighter early in the war and served throughout with several countries, despite being outclassed by most enemy fighters. The Warhawk was a development of the P-36 Hawk (pW.MP00) with a new Allison engine, first tested in 1938. Originally, the radiator was located behind the wings, but the Curtiss sales department told the engineers to move it forward; the distinctive P-40 'chin' was born and the rear-mounted radiator was left for the P-51.
The P-40 went through several armament changes through it's service life, but only the 'F' model had a significantly different powerplant. The 'N' was a specially lightened version; some deleted one MG from each wing. Over 5,000 P-40Ns were built, making it the major P-40 subtype.
The P-40N uses 38.25 gallons of aviation fuel per hour.
Subassemblies: Medium Fighter Body with Good streamlining +3,
Heavy Fighter Wings +2
P&P: 850 kW HP gasoline engine w/aerial propeller
Fuel: 105 gallons aviation gasoline in self-sealing fuel tanks
(body and wings)
Occ: 1 CS Cargo: 5.5 VSP Body,
0.2 VSP Wings
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body/Wings | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 |
| Wheels | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Cockpit | 0/+0 | 0/0 | 0/+30 | 0/0 | 0/+30 |
Weaponry
3*Long Aircraft MG/Browning M-2 [RWing:F] (300 rounds each)
3*Long Aircraft MG/Browning M-2 [LWing:F] (300 rounds each)
1,000 lb hardpoint [Body] (bomb or drop tank)
2*500 lb hardpoint [Wings] (bomb)
Equipment
Body: long range radio, bombsight, autopilot
Statistics
| Size: 12'x37'x33' | Payload: 1280 lbs | Lwt: 6,400 lbs (3.2 tons) |
| Volume: 100 vsp | Maint.: 42 hours | Price: $22,686 |
HT: 9
HP: 120 [body], 180 [each wing]
| aSpeed: 378 | aAccel: 13 | aDecel: 20 | aMR: 10 | aSR: 2 | aDrag: 132 |
| Stall: 71 mph |
Design Notes
Design speed was 381 mph and loaded weight 6,425. The historical values
have been used. Loaded weight does not include a bomb or drop tank.
Variants
P-40: Original version, with only one .30-cal and one .50-cal
MG in nose. Called the 'Tomahawk' by the British, who took over a French
order. Also used by the American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") in China.
342 built, 142 for British.
P-40B: 131 built
P-40C: 193 built
P-40D: Called the 'Kittyhawk' by the British. Removed nose guns
and added two .50-cal MGs in each wing. Top speed 354 mph. 22 built for
USAAF.
P-40E: As P-40D, but three MGs per wing. 2,322 built, many for
the RAF.
P-40F: As P-40D, but with Merlin engine. The fuselage was lengthened
18 inches during this series to correct stability problems, so there were
short and long P-40Fs. 373 mph. 1,311 built.
P-40Q (1944): A very clean design capable of 422 mph. Unfortunately,
most top fighters by then were nearing 500 mph and the 'Q' model ended
its days as a civilian racer after the war.
Several other improvements of the P-40 were offered by Curtis (XP-46,
XP-60, etc) but none were accepted for service.