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| - In December 1944, the last P-40 was accepted by the USAAF after 13,738 aircraft were produced. By this date, however, both the Republic P-47 as well as the North American P-51 had eclipsed the P-40 in every area of performance, range and armament. With the next generation aircraft already on development (the Lockheed P-80, Republic P-84 as well as the North American P-86) the Curtiss P-40 was truly obsolete. With over 100 aircraft either flyable, on display or under restoration the P-40 population remains in steady growth.
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| abstract
| - In December 1944, the last P-40 was accepted by the USAAF after 13,738 aircraft were produced. By this date, however, both the Republic P-47 as well as the North American P-51 had eclipsed the P-40 in every area of performance, range and armament. With the next generation aircraft already on development (the Lockheed P-80, Republic P-84 as well as the North American P-86) the Curtiss P-40 was truly obsolete. Close to the fall of 1944, the USAAF had already surveyed/retired/scrapped the majority of the early versions (P-40B/P-40L) and was in the midst of transiting the remaining combat units from the P-40N to the either P-47D or P-51D. As the war drew to and end, the only remaining P-40 were in several advanced training units (Operational Training Units – OTU’s). These aircraft quickly were struck-off charge and placed into storage. Unlike the aircraft which remained in production till the last date of the war (where brand new aircraft were flown directly to storage), those P-40’s that remained were truly worn-out, high-time aircraft. The vast majority of these aircraft were scrapped. Most foreign users of the P-40 also quickly retired there usage as well – the Royal New Zealand Air Force retired their last P-40 in 1947 (but did not scrap the aircraft until 1962) and the last military to use the P-40 operationally was the Brazilian Air Force who used them until late 1950’s. In 1947 the Royal Canadian Air Force put their P-40’s up for sale at a price of $ 50.00 each. Mr. Fred Dyson purchased 35 aircraft (P-40E/M/N’s) and barged them down from Vancouver Canada to Seattle where he found a ready market for these aircraft. Numerous example of the RCAF fleet of P-40’s were also purchased by farmers looking to strip the aircraft of hardware, which was in short, supply after the war. These RCAF aircraft for the next 30 years would be preponderance of the remaining examples of the P-40 family. One interest fact however; the P-40E’s and M’s were declared experimental aircraft by the FAA and had strict restrictions placed on there operations. The P-40N however, was placed in the limited category (typical for most warbirds). To bypass the stringent FAA limitations, many P-40E’s were licensed by the owners as P-40N’s. What also propelled the P-40 to popularity was just as the USAF was announcing the retirement of the P-51 mustang in 1950, the Korean War put these plans on hold. People who wanted a high performance aircraft had to settle for these Canadian P-40. It was not until the late 1950’s that once again the P-51 became available but by this time, the Kittyhawks/Warhawks had found a popular niche in the aviation community. The airshow display was becoming popular and having an aircraft, which could be painted in spurious AVG markings, made them a popular entertainer. In the mid 1970’s to late 1980’s, collectors from the United States started traveling to former South Pacific battlefield airfields and recovered the second generation of P-40 survivors. A vast majority of these airframes were RNZAF and RAAF combat veterans. These recovered P-40’s are still being taken from storage and after a considerable amount of time and resources, being returned to airworthy status. The third generation of P-40’s survivors became available with the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s and numerous example were discovered and recovered from former WWII Arctic battlefields near Murmansk. Other examples also included airframes being recovered from Alaskan wartime crashes during this same time frame. There are still numerous example of wrecked P-40’s that have yet to be recovered in China, United States, Canada as well as Russia in addition to the South Pacific sites. One difficulty being faced by those wishing to recover the crashed aircraft from New Guinea is that this government has decreed that these wrecks are to remain where they crashed (and allowed to deteriorate due to weather/vandalism or scrap dealers) with no plans other than hostility, many of these restorable airframes will be lost. With over 100 aircraft either flyable, on display or under restoration the P-40 population remains in steady growth.
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