P-43 Lancer

[Mick Grinter]

Are there any P-43 Lancers being restored or are there any wrecks in the US.
Not a great preformer and not mentioned often,i think Australia onlt had a few.
At a time when we didn't have much in the way of fighters at all.

[Dan K]

Does anyone else here recall Lancer bits being recovered off the coast of Florida sometime back (Like in the last 10-15 years)?

Give me a couple of days, Mick, and I'll see what I can dig up.

[Swiss Mustangs]

The Chinese Nationalist AF also used them



But I doubt that anything still exists there.

Martin

[RickH]

Robert L. Scott flew them amongst the Himalayas. They would operate much better up there than the P-40s. Don't think he actually flew any combat in one though.

[ww2John]

Not that this quote (below) actually clarifies anything related to the question "are there any", but...

According to the NMUSAF web site:

"Although 272 P-43's were built in various models, the aircraft was out-performed by the leading aircraft in Europe just before the outbreak of World War II and never saw combat with the US Army Air Corps."

In my previous searches, about 10 years ago, I found no evidence of any P-43 survivors.

[L. Thompson]

One of my favorite single magazine issues of the 1970's was a unusually well done work by Challenge Publications, the Winter 1974 issue of Air Classics Quarterly Review, Vol. 1 No.3, entitled WARBIRDS! VETERAN AND VINTAGE FIGHTERS 1939-1945. It was basically 98 full pages of decently captioned civilian warbird photos with NO advertising!

On page 45 was a photo of a P-43 that appears to be serial 40-2894. The caption says in part: "...this P-43 Lancer was photographed in an aircraft disposal yard during th late 1940s. It was sold to a civilian and we wonder what happened to the craft. We also wonder what happened to several other P-43s that were sold to private individuals. As of this writing there are no confirmed P-43s in existence although rumors persist of a pair in South America." The photo shows the weathered Lancer with cracked open canopy in a pretty barren field. Some other aircraft barely visible in the background, one apparently a Helldiver.

According to the website, http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1940.html, by the way, this under their listing for 1940 USAAC Serial Numbers, it says 40-2894 was a Lancer converted to P-43C recon version.

Maybe William Larkins or someone knows some actual assigned N#'s for some of these alleged P-43s. From there maybe one of the original owners could be tracked down, and then....?

Lowell Thompson
Kellogg, Idaho

[bdk]

There is a well known photo of a P-43 at Cal Aero Field (now Chino Airport) awaiting disposal.

[L. Thompson]

Just checked my copy of Joe Cupido's book, CHINO. Sure enough he published two photos of 40-2894 (both of these taken from the right side, the other photo cited was from the left side) at Ontario RFC. It says they were photographed during March and July of 1946. Obviously the aircraft had moved between the two photos so maybe indeed it was one that was saved.

[SRS]

Check her for the story of the supposedly last P-43. Left for the USAFM, but never collected... http://p196.ezboard.com/fwarbirdsforumfrm3.showMessage?topicID=151.topic

[Dan K]

But perhaps that's not the LAST P-43!

Two bits of good news this morning:

1) My long-term memory isn't quite as bad as my spouse calims it is, and

2) Remains of a crashed P-43 apparently do exist

For anyone who has access to the April, 1987 issue of Flypast, page 35 carries an article entitled, "Underwater Lancer to be Lifted." The article includes a photo of one John Ryan, then (and still?) owner of American Air Salvage (of St. Petersburg, Florida), examining the remains of the Twin Wasp that he recovered from a submerged P-43--described as lying 30 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico, 8 miles out from Tampa, Florida. The article states that Mr. Ryan had obtained exclusive rights to the crash site. The article infers that Mr. Ryan would continue with the recovery in the future.

So where might she be now? Anyone want to track down Mr. John Ryan?

[bdk]

"Many years ago I saw an old B&W movie called "God is my Co-Pilot". The film utilized a P-43 Lancer(or was it a P-35?). It was obviously a post WWII movie as many of the scenes were taken in the Mojave desert area (it was suppposed to be 'China')."

Anyone seen this that can confirm?

[Dan K]

I have some information at home on this film. I'm almost positive it was filmed during the war years, with Robert Scott himself serving as a technical advisor for the film. I'll check my files after work and see what turns up.

[airnutz]

I have some information at home on this film. I'm almost positive it was filmed during the war years, with Robert Scott himself serving as a technical advisor for the film. I'll check my files after work and see what turns up.

God Is My Co-pilot
Dan, was released in 1945 and filmed at Luke AFB, Arizona. Scott was the
Tech Advisor. Dennis Morgan played Colonel Scott. Some other bits,
from one of this months articles at Turner Classic Movies....

"Based on the memoirs of Colonel Scott, God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) chronicles the story of the Flying Tigers, with a special emphasis on the spiritual conflicts that go along with the life of a fighter pilot in wartime. Scott (Dennis Morgan) is stricken with guilt after strafing a Japanese column and seeing men fall dead beneath his plane's bullets. For solace, he turns to the priest, Mike Harrigan (Hale), who benevolently gives Scott a special prayer for pilots. Eventually, Scott's faith is put to the test when his plane is shot down and he's stranded behind enemy lines.

Though critics of the time gave God Is My Co-Pilot lukewarm reviews, calling it mawkish and pedestrian, the film proved to be a hit with audiences. Indeed, it was the number-one film among GIs between the years l942 and l945, possibly because they understood the psychological and spiritual anguish of the film's characters. Raymond Massey, as General Chennault, had served (and been injured) in both World Wars with the Canadian army. Also, the U.S. military cooperated with the film's production, supplying P-40Fs and crews for the aerial segments and volunteering Luke AFB in Arizona for a filming location."

[bdk]

How was it the #1 film between '42 and '45 if it was released in '45?

[airnutz]

How was it the #1 film between '42 and '45 if it was released in '45?

Brandon...think about what you just said. Now it would be weird,
if someone in 1941 made that observance about the most popular movie
of '42-'45!