Vader’s Model Desk: Curtiss P-40B Warhawk

Thanks. This one was a tough one. It’s an old kit and had a good deal of fit issues.

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Just perfect. Love the detail. My favorite plane of WWII.

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Thanks. My very first model build, almost 50 years ago now, was the Monogram P-40B kit. This plane is the one that got me started in the world of models.

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Is that paint scheme any of the Tigers in particular, like Tex Hill?

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I know it’s not Tex Hill’s plane as he was in 2nd squadron and this one is from 3rd squadron. Here’s a print of his P-40…

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I know they also repainted their nose cones different colors on missions so the Japs would think there were more squadrons of them than actually were in theater.

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Yeah. The exploits of the AVG is the stuff of legends.

Something I think is cool is that the “flying tiger” logo was designed by Walt Disney.

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My favorite plane of WWII.

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Between the p40, the Stuka and the C-47, it's a real though call for me.

Great Job Vader.. I love it.

Without it, we couldn't have won the war. Just a great workhorse hauler.

Those AVG Warhawks came from a shipment intended for the RAF, hence the British desert camo.
The AVG was much more of a government op than people were led to believe. Years later, the US government recognized the AVG as US veterans.

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Those AVG Warhawks came from a shipment intended for the RAF, hence the British desert camo. The AVG was much more of a government op than people were led to believe. Years later, the US government recognized the AVG as US veterans.

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They made good money in the service of the Chinese Nationalists against Japan…..

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The AVG were officially members of the Republic of China Air Force. The group had contracts with salaries ranging from $250 a month for a mechanic to $750 for a squadron commander, roughly three times what they had been making in the U.S. forces. While it accepted some civilian volunteers for its headquarters and ground crew, the AVG recruited most of its staff from the U.S. military.

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And even though they were formed before the US entered the war, they didn’t see actual combat until after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor….

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The Flying Tigers began to arrive in China in April 1941. The group first saw combat on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor. It demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces, and achieved such notable success during the lowest period of the war for both the U.S. and the Allied Forces as to give hope to America that it might eventually defeat Japan. AVG pilots earned official credit and received combat bonuses for destroying 296 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 pilots in combat.[1] The combat records of the AVG still exist and researchers have found them credible.[2] On 4 July 1942 the AVG was disbanded and replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later absorbed into the U.S. Fourteenth Air Force with General Chennault as commander. The 23rd FG went on to achieve similar combat success, while retaining the nose art on the left-over P-40s.

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