Buffalo in China

[mike furline]

What's the story on the Buffalo? US, Chinese, British, Dutch?

Pic borrowed from Mark Allen M in the Jeep thread.

[Mark Sampson]

Perhaps RAF, in defense of Rangoon, late '41-early '42.

[Dave Homewood]

No. 67 Squadron RAF, which had many RNZAF pilots, flew them in Burma.

[tom d. friedman]

it is little known, but the army air corp had a quantity of 8 buffalos in south east asia or australia. their contribution to fighting the japanese siege at the beginning of the war isn't even worth mentioning, & little else is known beyond that.

[John Dupre]

it is little known, but the army air corp had a quantity of 8 buffalos in south east asia or australia. their contribution to fighting the japanese siege at the beginning of the war isn't even worth mentioning, & little else is known beyond that.

I think they were ex Dutch Model 339 (F2A-3 equivalent) that escaped from Indonesia to Australia. The one saving grace of that version was pretty decent range. I don't think they were even given a P designation, just painted in US markings. They might have flown some patrols very early on after Indonesia fell but were quickly relegated to hacks leaving P-40s to combat.