Did anybody want a P-40K?

ndicki

ndicki

Charter Member 2016
Actually, one of these isn't a P-40K. Just looking to see who's paying attention...





 
They look great Nigel, though I'm afraid my P-40 knowledge is lacking, they all look the same, unless you're talking about the Kittyhawks at the bottom.
 
I thought the K had an antenna mast, and the intake scoop came all the way to the edge of the spinner?
 
The antenna mast was introduced simultaneously with the long fuselage on the P-40K production run, in other words the P-40K-10 was the first to have it and as these are short fuselage P-40K-1 and P-40K-5 versions there are none. About the carburettor intake, for all I know the nose design remained the same from the P-40D onwards in all Allison versions, with the exception of the small panels ahead of the exhausts being perforated in P-40M and P-40N.
 
I have a photo of P-40K-5, SN 42-9873, with the enlarged fin, short fuselage, antenna mast, intake at the edge of the spinner, and the perforated small panels. Retro-fit kit perhaps?
 
Very possibly, and/or field modifications. The amount of home made bomb racks I found when researching the E/F/L series was already a thing in itself - think about the underfuselage rack somehow rigged to take two 250lb bombs side by side and the entire thing then fitted under the wing in the place of the normal wing rack. Nothing surprises me in P-40s when it comes to field modifications after that.
 
MajorMagee said:
I have a photo of P-40K-5, SN 42-9873, with the enlarged fin, short fuselage, antenna mast, intake at the edge of the spinner, and the perforated small panels. Retro-fit kit perhaps?
Click to expand...

Certainly the result of a rebuild. The fitting of the V1710-73 engine did not change the cowling at all, and the lower cowl is identical on P-40D, E and K aircraft. The Merlin-engined F and L models had of course a different cowling which did indeed sit in line with the spinner. The perforated panels forward of the exhaust stubs were fitted only to aircraft with the V1710-81 engine or later, so factory P-40M or N aircraft. I don't doubt that the USAAF followed the pattern we've noticed with all the types we've worked on, of fitting all kinds of parts onto all kinds of aircraft!

Here's a photo of P-40N aircraft where the chin intake and perforated panels are clearly visible:

80th-fg-skullhead-p-40-warhawks-out-of-burma-1944.jpg


The only information I can find on 42-9873 is that it was struck off for scrap on 18th July 1945. That would imply that it very probably spent its life in the United States as a training aircraft, which greatly increases the chance of its undergoing a rebuild following an accident. It appears in a block of aircraft which were all retained in the US for training purposes.

One of the screenshots above does in fact show the result of a rebuild - USAAF P-40E-1 41-36504 was a late-build E-model, and was due to be transferred to the RAF as EV250. It was actually retained by the USAAF as a training aircraft, and was rebuilt following a taxying accident on 23rd December 1942. As a late-build E, it probably left the factory with the tailfin fillet (see Kittyhawk MkIa 41-36675 EV421 DB-H which is in the Empire Mk.IIIs package) in any case.
 
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