Warbird Information Exchange

Actually the P-40 was not a "crap" plane. The P-40 has been a very misunderstood airplane. At the start the U.S. pilots were not trained properly to deal with the Zero. But very soon the Zero's weaknesses were learned and the P-40 was able to equal and sometimes best the Japanese.

The truth is that the P-40 was a much better plane then most people realize and when proper tactics where used and the strengths of the P-40 carried out it was a very hard foe to fight against.

The P-40 had one of the fastest dive speeds of any fighter of WWII and could easily exceed 500 mph in a dive. This point was murder to Japanese aircraft that could not even risk diving over 350 mph without the possibility of losing the wings due to stress. Also the P-40 had one of the fastest roll rates of any plane during WWII. Even faster then the Spitfire. This ment the ability to change direction fast and allow for faster manuverability.

The Japanese A6M would have dominated over EVERY U.S. fighter in WWII had the U.S. not adopted tactics to overcome the Japanese weaknesses. The Zero or A6M could out turn any U.S. fighter. So hit and run tactics had to be used. It was not a matter of dog fighting but survival and not fighting the way the Japanese wanted to fight.

In Africa the P-40 was replacing the Hawker Hurricane because it was superior in that theater. Besides the fact the P-40 could not operate at higher altitudes like the Hurricane could. But other then that the P-40 was an effective weapon in Africa. Some say the P-40 was slow. Well, in some respect yes it was. The P-40 was faster then the Hurricane and Zero. But the P-40 was nimble and could speed up very fast especially in a dive.

Hopefully one day a more apprisiation toward the P-40 will be found. Was the P-40 the best? No, but it was what we had, it fought hard, long, and tough. The P-40 may be forever forgotten but every pilot that got in it was a hero to me.