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Curtis P-40C Tomahawk EAA 2012
This very rare aircraft is a Curtis P-40C Tomahawk that was built in 1941. This particular aircraft was part of Lend-Lease with the Soviets and shot down in 1942., In 1991 is was recovered and the next several years rebuilt and made airworthy.
This one is repainted as one of the P-40s that was at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941.
This one is repainted as one of the P-40s that was at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1280 x 850px
File Size 125.8 kB
Shark mouth was first done by the Germans, IIRC, but it became famous on the P-40 with the Flying Tigers in China. Who only got into action and became famous some time after Pearl Harbor.
Honestly, though, the P-40 was obviously designed to have a shark's mouth painted on her. It is, in my crackpot opinion, proof of Curtiss's engineering incompetence that they didn't come from the factory with teeth painted on 'em. Look at that nose! It was made for teeth! :D
I've always thought the P-40 got a bit of a bum rap in history. It was a fast, strong, rugged plane that was pretty much able to take on the early model BF-109s that were contemporary to it, and its speed and firepower made it superior to the Japanese fighters provided you didn't try to turn with them, which was THEIR game. We got much better planes later, but if the P-40 had remained our front line fighter and we'd put the same effort into developing it and the Allison engine that powered it as we put into other, newer designs, we probably would have done all right. Not as well as we did, but all right.
Honestly, though, the P-40 was obviously designed to have a shark's mouth painted on her. It is, in my crackpot opinion, proof of Curtiss's engineering incompetence that they didn't come from the factory with teeth painted on 'em. Look at that nose! It was made for teeth! :D
I've always thought the P-40 got a bit of a bum rap in history. It was a fast, strong, rugged plane that was pretty much able to take on the early model BF-109s that were contemporary to it, and its speed and firepower made it superior to the Japanese fighters provided you didn't try to turn with them, which was THEIR game. We got much better planes later, but if the P-40 had remained our front line fighter and we'd put the same effort into developing it and the Allison engine that powered it as we put into other, newer designs, we probably would have done all right. Not as well as we did, but all right.
Actually, the shark mouth on P-40s started with Tomahawks flown by the Brits in North Afrika.
The P-40 was always hampered by Curtiss's somewhat conservative, if not obsolecent, engineering. The early P-51 with the same engine as in the later P-40 was heads and shoulders better. The Allison did get better, a lot better, even without a turbo, as some P/F-82s would atest, but by then recips were on the way out.
The P-40 was always hampered by Curtiss's somewhat conservative, if not obsolecent, engineering. The early P-51 with the same engine as in the later P-40 was heads and shoulders better. The Allison did get better, a lot better, even without a turbo, as some P/F-82s would atest, but by then recips were on the way out.
Wikipedia Which Is Never Wrong claimed that the British were first to use the shark's mouth on the P-40, as you said, but the Germans used them on some ME-110s even before that. But what the heck, I've no doubt somebody did something like that in the 20s if not in WWI. It's an obvious idea. Never looked better than on the P-40, though.
Yeah, no doubt a WWI machine could well have had some version of a shark mouth. I was thinking specifically of the P-40/Tomahawk. BTW, a P-40C in AVG markings flew in formation with a P-51 and P-47 over my house today. There was a shark mouth Bf109C/D(?) pre-WWII as well.
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