P-40E-1CU41-36084 RAAF P-40E Kittyhawk A29-133Polly Australian War Memorial
TheCurtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metalfighter andground attack aircraft. Flown by the air forces of 28 nations, when production of the P-40 ceased in November 1944, 13,738 had been built.
By the fall of 1944, theUnited States Army Air Forces had already retired most of the early versions (P-40B/P-40L) and was in the midst of withdrawing the final variants from combat units. ByVJ Day, the only remaining P-40 were in Operational Training Units (OTUs). These aircraft were struck-off charge and placed into storage. Most foreign users of the P-40 also quickly retired their P-40s as well – theRoyal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) stored their last P-40s in 1947 (scrapping them by 1962) and the last military to use the P-40 operationally was theBrazilian Air Force who used them until the late 1950s.
In 1947 theRoyal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) auctioned off their surplus P-40s. Mr. Fred Dyson purchased 35 P-40Es, Ms and Ns for $50.00 each, and barged them from Vancouver to Seattle to resell. Other ex-RCAF P-40s were purchased to strip the aircraft of hardware, which was in short supply after the war. For the next 30 years the RCAF machines would make up the majority of the flying P-40s. The FAA classified P-40Es and Ms as experimental aircraft, restricting their operations. The P-40N was in the limited category typical for most warbirds, but to circumvent FAA regulations many P-40Es were licensed as P-40Ns.
TheKorean War in 1950 delayed USAF plans to retire theP-51 Mustang, and the Canadian P-40s were the only high performance aircraft available. It was not until the late 1950s that the P-51 became available but by this time, the Kittyhawks/Warhawks had found a popular niche for airshows. Having an aircraft which could be painted in AVG markings made them popular.
From the mid 1970s to late 1980s, collectors from the United States started traveling to former South Pacific airfields and recovered a second generation of P-40 survivors. The majority of these were RNZAF andRoyal Australian Air Force (RAAF) veterans. Examples are still being returned to airworthy status.
The fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s made a third generation of P-40s survivors available and numerous examples were recovered from former battlefields nearMurmansk. Other examples also included airframes being recovered from Alaskan wartime crashes during this same time frame.
There are still numerous example of wrecked P-40s that have yet to be recovered in China, United States, Canada as well as Russia in addition to the South Pacific sites. Many governments regulate wreck site recoveries and have placed many off-limits so as to remain untouched as grave sites, somewhat limiting further recoveries.
41-25158/VH-AK4 – owned by Andrew Kennedy inGunnedah, New South Wales. This p40 was NZ3009 withRNZAF. It was famously owned by the Old Flying Machine company from 1994 to 2002 and flown byRay Hanna. The aircraft made its first flight in Australia on April 24th 2024 in the hands of Kennedy.[4]
42-104687/VH-ZOC – owned by Arthur Pipe & Steel Australia PTY LTD inEast Albury, New South Wales. Was NZ3125 in RNZAF service.[7]
42-104986/VH-PFO – owned by the P40N PTY LTD inCaboolture, Queensland. This P40 is a combat veteran having seen service overNew Guinea. On February 14th 1944 the aircraft shot down aKI 61 but was forced to crash land because of damage sustained during the battle. Pilot Nelson D. Flack, Jr survived the crash and made it back to allied lines after 17 days in the jungle. His plane was discovered in 2004 and brought to Australia for restoration. The aircraft took flight on March 3rd 2016 in the hands of then owner Doug Hamilton.[8][9]
41-13570/OO-WHK – restored for Pioneer Aero Ltd, Ardmore, Auckland. Equipped with two seats and dual control.[21] Recovered from a lake in Russia in August 1997.[22]
s/n unknown – A fairly complete wreck of a P-40 is immersed in 18 feet of water near the semi-decommissioned French fleet air arm station of Aspretto,Ajaccio,Corsica. It was found in much deeper waters by military divers and moved in present time location for training purposes. It is theoretically off limits but has been much dived in the past 30 years, images and video footage are visible on internet.[26]
41-14205 – restored to E-model status and on display at theRNZAF Museum in represented RNZAF colours as "NZ3000".[31]
43-22962/NZ3220 – on display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre on loan from the Smith family,Blenheim, New Zealand.[32]
Under restoration
P-40E
41-35916 – under restoration to fly for John Saunders at Omaka using some ex-RNZAF parts.[33] Will be dual control.[34]
41-36410/NZ3043 – restoration to airworthy by Mike Nicholls and John Saunders at Omaka Airfield inBlenheim, New Zealand.[35]
P-40N
42-104751/NZ3147 – restoration to flying with Pioneer Aero Ltd, Ardmore Airfield for Brett Nicholls. Rebuild will include rear seat and dual controls[citation needed]
Stored
P-40K
42-10178/A29-183 – stored pending restoration by Graham Orphan inBlenheim.[36]
42-104949Kathleen II – to airworthiness by Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc. Trustee inBungay,Suffolk. Flown by the comedianDan Rowan in World War II.[42]
42-105875 – privately owned inEugene, Oregon. Operated as NZ3184 with the RNZAF. Restored to flight in early 2023 inWangaratta, Victoria, Australia, after restoration by Precision Airmotive. It was later shipped to the U.S.[83][better source needed]
44-47923 – based atFantasy of Flight inPolk City, Florida.[91][92] Operated by museum owner Kermit Weeks and registered N923, it is the world's only airworthy trainer-variant P-40. Additionally, the aircraft was briefly featured at the beginning of the 1973 CBS made-for-television movieBirds of Prey, starringDavid Janssen andRalph Meeker.
42-104721 – based atCollings Foundation inStow, Massachusetts. This is a rebuild of the same aircraft that originally was at Evergreen, which was based on the wreck of P-40K 42-9749, recovered from Alaska where it had originally served in the Aleutians, and originally restored as a P-40K. Now the airframe has been rebuilt as a factory-built TP-40N with the serial number 42-104721 newly assigned, an identity from a wrecked and parceled-out P-40N that was recovered from New Guinea where it had originally served with the RAAF as A29-499.[93][94]
42-105270 –Hill Aerospace Museum atHill AFB inUtah. This aircraft is actually a composite of a P-40E fiberglass replica and a wrecked P-40N recovered from Alaska. The dataplates were unreadable so the Hill Aerospace Museum chose the serial number of a scrapped P-40 that had been flown by the same squadron that the wrecked aircraft belonged to.[105]
^"Aircraft Exhibits".classicflyersnz.com. Retrieved28 November 2020.This aircraft was restored from a wreck that was discovered in one of the Pacific Islands.
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