Added a P-40 to my collection

I very proud to announce that I purchased a P-40N project to add to my other 2 fighters. Plan is to take 2 years to finish it.
The P-40 is what started me in WW2 fighters, when I read "God is my Copilot" at 8 years old. I bought the P-51 first because of all of the support it had at the time (1989) as compared to the P-40. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That is fantastic. Congratulations Mike!

What are you thinking of for the paint scheme?

 

Robert L Scott
Author of "God is my Copilot" Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It's the wrong variant for that scheme, but I suspect that you don't care about that.

 

The N had all the fixes for the type. Dad said P-40s were really fun to fly, even if obsolescent when he flew them in 1944. Did yeoman service in China and North Africa.

 

Nope

Next owner can paint it differently if they want, the scheme I have chosen is too special to me. It wasn't a dual control originally either but my Corsair is a single seater and my Mustang does't have dual controls.
I think the P-40 looks fairly good with the second set of controls as compared to the TF Mustang or the dual controlled Spitfire.

 

Nice! Have you flown a P-40 before?

 

Very nice. Looking forward to seeing it up at Oshkosh in a few years. Are you going to convert the cockpit canopy back to original?

 

Yes
I have "All makes and models" on my license so for me I just needed someone who has flown one before to sign my logbook. But I wouldn't do that unless there weren't any 2 seaters available. As it was when I bought the Corsair.
I flew with Tom Richards in Florida and got it added to my license. I can't say enough good things about Tom. I highly recommend flying with him if anyone desires to fly a P-40 or a T-6.

I have flown over 110 types including the Spitfire, Sea Fury, Corsair, and Mustang, and the P-40 is the best flying aircraft of them all. Almost all of the WW2 pilots I have talked to said the P-40 was their favorite and now I know why.

 

I will definitely take it to Oshkosh. This year would of been my 48th in a row if it hadn't been cancelled. Plan is to keep it dual control so I can share the experience with my friends and family.

 

While the P-40's were at Sarasota Airbase during the war I got to know several vendor reps for whom I did some drawings and they told me about all the changes made to lighten the N and to improve the flight characteristics. The lengthening of the tail to move the vertical fin 12" aft was one of the most effective changes to improve rudder authority and directional control on the ground. My buddy and I spent many weekends in 1942 out near the airbase watching them and it was always exciting. There were two OTU squadrons based there, the 98th and 303rd, to train kids fresh out of advanced (AT-6) and the accident rate was terrible. In one month one squadron was effectively wiped out. We saw a lot of ground accidents from loss of control and even if we weren't at the base, there were crashes almost every day. At that time the Air Force was ramming through pilots as fast as they could be inducted and many of them shouldn't have been near an airplane. The loss rate was figured into the equation of the required output. When I went to work at the airport after the war there was still a big pile of aluminum junk from P-40 and P-51 wrecks.

 

That's incredible. I hope you keep us up to date on the restoration here.

 

If you need a nose art artist, I know a good one.

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I should have mentioned that the nightly partying and lots of alcohol added to the accident rate. When they were flying the serpentine tail chase exercise you could always spot the guy who was too hung over to maintain the spacing or tight turns. Lots of mid-air collisions during formation work, too. I think that I mentioned the P-40 doing a buzz job of the girl who lived on the pass near us. When he pulled up, the right wing separated from the airplane and he went down just 400 yards from the school bus on which we were riding home. I learned later that there was some instances of crack damage to the wing joint flange from hard landings and this is what caused this crash.

 

Bob- The relatively narrow landing gear track, like the Spitfire and Me-109, made landings and ground ops difficult for low time pilots. The P-40 was not as bad as those two, though.

 

Yep, Terry. I learned about the narrow landing gear when I got checked out in the PT-13 Stearman and flew several others that required your undivided attention. To add to the narrow gear, the heavy and high upper wing added to the unwelcomed inertia when a deviation started . I never let one get away from me, however. Re P-40, at Sarasota AB I saw one get into a hard bounce that started a porpoising off the main gear that progressed into a cart wheel that tore the nose and tail off the airplane and, of course, destroyed the wings. To everyone's amazement, the pilot got out and stood there in his own amazement. I have always liked the P-40, especially the N model.

 

I love all your posts.
Congratulations on the acquisition.
Please share the process of the restoration if you can.

 

Yes, we need a "New Addition to the Hanger" like SCFerrari did for his House.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/new-addition-to-the-house.464237/

 

I have a few items of art from a Bugatti to landscapes to aviation and portriature that could go well with the brick. Take a look at parkzart.com

 

It’s funny that Thom and Kermit both have dual control P-40s 30 miles apart.

 

Does Kermit have a home in Naples ? Or am
I thinking of someone else ?

MDS

 

https://www.aces-high.com/catalogue/view/america-strikes-back

 

Can you explain this? I’ve never heard of such a thing. What is required for such an endorsement, aside from being a badass?

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I think that Kermit would live near Orlando. Naples is way on the south west coast. Although, he could have another home there as a retreat from his tough life.