Curtiss P-40N "Kittyhawk IV" 42-105192 RCAF 858 (79) N85104
History:
Constructed as a P-40N by Curtiss at Buffalo, NY.
Taken on Strength/Charge with the Royal Canadian Air Force with s/n 858 as a Kittyhawk IV.
Delivered to RCAF as 858.
BOC: June 22, 1943.
SOC: August 23, 1946.
Put up for disposal at Patricia Bay AB, Vancouver Island.
1947: Fred Dyson, Boeing Field, Seattle, WA, October 23.
1947: Barged from Vancouver Island to Boeing Field.
Registered as N1197N.
Royale Silver Co, Los Angeles, CA, 19??.
Bajorling Aircraft Co, Detroit, MI, 19??.
1952: W.P. Bridges Real Estate, Jackson, MS.
1954: Louis Rice, Maysville, CA.
1954: Richard B. Rowlette, Riverside, CA.
1955: Walter Brockin, Riverside-Flabob, CA.
1955: W. Keith Larkin/Weather Modification Company, San Jose, CA.
Modified to dispense Iodine pellets.
Fitted with belly tank and radar pod under right wing.
1958: Damaged from wheels-up landing near Denver, CO.
1960: Ed Maloney/The Air Museum, Ontario, CA.
Wreck acquired and trucked from Denver.
Restored for static display.
1980: Planes of Fame, Chino, CA, October.
Registered as N85104.
1977: Restored to airworthy, Chino.
1981: First flight.
Displayed as USAAC/"47".
2000: Shipped to Hawaii for movie Pearl Harbor March.
Currently flying.
The Planes of fame Museum’s P-40 is a World War II Combat Veteran, built in Buffalo, NY, delivered on June 22, 1943, and served with the Royal Canadian Air Force. On March 10, 1945, while being flown by Pilot Officer J. O. Patten, this Kittyhawk Mk. IV destroyed a Japanese “Fu-Go” fire-balloon bomb at 13,500 feet over Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Post-war, the aircraft sold several times to private owners. In Colorado in 1958, after seeding clouds with silver iodide, it experienced a belly landing. It was acquired by the Museum in 1960 and restored in 1980. It flies regularly and has appeared in the films “Pearl Harbor” and “Valkyrie.” It is currently painted in the markings of the 325th Fighter Group.

P-40N Warhawk 42-105192 (N85104) at the Weather Modification Company, San Jose, CA 1955.

P-40N Warhawk 42-105192 (N85104) at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, Ca in June 1981.

P-40N Warhawk 42-105192 (N85104) at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, Ca in June 2005.

P-40N Warhawk 42-105192 (N85104) at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, Ca currently.