Another Kalamazoo P-40?

[CWBuff]

I'm talking with a friend who recalls seeing what she thinks was a P-40 with a sharkmouth at the Kalamazoo museum back in the 1980s or maybe early 90s.

Although she was a young'n at the time and admits that her memory isn't perfect, (whose is?) it was not Sue Parish's P-40N... she is emphatic about that. "If it was the pink one, I'd remember it! It was a drab green color." I thought perhaps, not being a hardcore wingnut, she might be thinking of the P-39, but after looking at pictures she says no... "it was all one color, not camouflage". Looking through the survivors section on my site, she said it looked quite a bit like AK987, the ship at the Air Force Museum:

http://p40hawksnest.co.nf/Survivors/AK987.html


So... did Kalamazoo ever have another P-40 in its collection? Or maybe a 'loaner', or something like that?


Fade to Black...

[P51Mstg]

They had a T-34 that Sue Parrish flew after the P-40 was retired. The T-34 was painted exactly like the P-40, pink with a shark's mouth..... No other P-40 there that I can recall.

Mark H

[Steve Nelson]

The Air Zoo has never owned another P-40 other than Sue Parrish's. It is possible however that one could have been visiting at some point. The museum has hangared other peoples' aircraft occasionally over the years, although I don't ever recall a P-40. It could have been in town for an airshow, and was only there for a short time.

SN

[kalamazookid]

My Dad has been going to the Air Zoo since '85 and doesn't recall ever seeing another P-40. The museum did hangar several P-51s over the years, but none were green. Not sure what she could be thinking of. The museum did hangar Cliff Robertson's Spitfire for a number of years, so that could be a possibility.

[Steve Nelson]

But of course Robertson's Spit didn't have a sharkmouth (I was really sad to see that one and the Bf-108 leave.) I too have been hanging out at the Air Zoo since the late 80s, and the only shark-mouth aircraft I've ever seen there are Sue's P-40 and T-34s. The Airacobra now has a sharkmouth Guadalcanal sheme, but it was only repainted a few years ago. Oh, I forgot..the museum has a half-scale P-38 that's overall olive drab with sharkmouths painted on it, but of course that has two engines.

SN

[PinecastleAAF]

Was the Air Zoo's P-40 always pink when they operated it? Didn't they fly it for a brief period in a pre-pink paint job?

[CWBuff]

Thanks for the replies, fellas...

Was the Air Zoo's P-40 always pink when they operated it? Didn't they fly it for a brief period in a pre-pink paint job?

I'd like to know this as well...

Oh, I forgot..the museum has a half-scale P-38 that's overall olive drab with sharkmouths painted on it, but of course that has two engines.

But to someone who isn't really a hardcore wingnut each of those engines in and of themselves could be mistaken for the nose of a P-40... especially years later while recalling memories from when they were a young'n.

Hmmm... I'll ask my friend if maybe that's what she saw. When did they first obtain this replica and was/is it on the floor/ground or was/is it hanging?


Fade to Black...

[kalamazookid]

To my knowledge, the Air Zoo P-40 only ever flew in the pink markings while the museum owned it.

[Steve Nelson]

I think the P-38 replica came to the museum sometime in the late 90s. It was sitting on the floor in the restoratino hangar for a few years, and was then hung in the new facility when it opened in 2003. I don't recall if it was ever displayed in the old building or not.

When Sue acquired th e P-40 it had been modified for racing, and she had it restored back to more-or-less stock condition with the pink paint job. I remember it was the museum's "signature" aircraft dating back to the late 70s. I don't think it ever had a sharkmouth until Sue purchased it. I believe it was a plain-jane stateside trainer. Somewhere there's a pic of it being towed down the street in a postwar parade still in its military paint, having been donated to a high school.

SN

[kalamazookid]

Didn't the Air Zoo have a scale P-40 on a pole for awhile? I seem to recall it being sandwiched knife-edge between the B-25 and the P-39.

[Warbirdnerd]

Could it have been AK899? This bird got around the Midwest quite a bit when it was owned by Richard Hansen.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p40regis ... ak899.html

[Steve Nelson]

Didn't the Air Zoo have a scale P-40 on a pole for awhile? I seem to recall it being sandwiched knife-edge between the B-25 and the P-39.

You're right Matt..forgot about that one. It was about six feet long or so..I was told it was a wooden master for a cast bronze sculpture for a memorial somewhere. As I recall it was painted in a generic olive drab scheme with a sharkmouth. I'm not sure where it is these days.

SN

[bdk]

Trivia time: The pink P-40 was restored by Frank Sanders.