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Curtiss P-40 Warhawk facts for kids

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P-40 Warhawk
Tomahawk / Kittyhawk
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk 2 USAF.jpg
A restored Warhawk in the "Flying Tigers" paint scheme
Role Fighter aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Curtiss-Wright Corporation
First flight 14 October 1938
Retired Brazilian Air Force (1958)
Primary users United States Army Air Forces
Royal Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Produced 1939–1944
Number built 13,738
Unit cost US$44,892 in 1944
Developed from Curtiss P-36 Hawk
Variants Curtiss XP-46

The Curtiss P-40 (also called the Tomahawk, Warhawk, and Kittyhawk) was a fighter aircraft that could also be used for attacking things on the ground. It was made by Curtiss. It first flew in 1938 and saw combat during World War II. It was not as fast high up as the German Luftwaffe fighters, but was used a lot in other places. It was used not only the United States Army Air Force, but also a mercenary air force called the "Flying Tigers." They put the mouth of a shark on their P-40s. It could fly to 360 miles per hour. In 1948, the United States Air Force stopped using it.

Images for kids

  • Curtiss XP-40 in flight, circa in 1939

    Curtiss XP-40 "11" used for test purposes by the Materiel Division of the U.S. Army Air Corps

  • Curtiss P-40, ¾-front view, in flight (00910460 023)

    A three-quarter view of a P-40B, X-804 (s/n 39-184) in flight. This aircraft served with an advanced training unit at Luke Field, Arizona.

  • Kittyhawkdamaged

    Evidence of the P-40's durability: in 1944 F/O T. R. Jacklin (pictured) flew this No. 75 Squadron RAAF P-40N-5 more than 200 mi (322 km) after the loss of the port aileron and 25% of its wing area, due to a mid-air collision with another P-40N-5.

  • AWM 010926 tomahawk

    Armourers working on a Tomahawk Mk.II from No. 3 Squadron RAAF in North Africa, 23 December 1941

  • TR 000978 kittyhawk

    A Kittyhawk Mk III of No. 112 Squadron RAF, taxiing at Medenine, Tunisia, in 1943. The ground crewman on the wing is directing the pilot, whose view ahead is hindered by the aircraft's nose.

  • P03372.011 kittybomber

    North Africa, c. 1943. A P-40 "Kittybomber" of No. 450 Squadron RAAF, loaded with six 250 lb (110 kg) bombs.

  • Hells Angels, Flying Tigers 1942

    3rd Squadron Hell's Angels, Flying Tigers over China, photographed in 1942 by AVG pilot Robert T. Smith.

  • Aleutian P-40E

    P-40K 42–10256 in Aleutian "Tiger" markings.

  • Curtiss P-40B 41-13297 4

    P-40B G-CDWH at Duxford 2011. It is the only airworthy P-40B in the world and the only survivor from the Pearl Harbor attack.

  • Junichi Sasai with P-40

    Junichi Sasai and a captured P-40B in the Dutch East Indies, 1942

  • P-40-flightline-201024

    By mid-1943, the USAAF was superseding the P-40F (pictured); the two nearest aircraft, "White 116" and "White 111" were flown by the aces 1Lt Henry E. Matson and 1Lt Jack Bade, 44th FS, at the time part of AirSols, on Guadalcanal

  • Curtiss P-40 Warhawk USAF

    Top to Bottom: P-40L, P-40F, and P-40K Warhawk

  • AWM 026647 P-40 Milne

    P-40E-1 piloted by the ace Keith "Bluey" Truscott, commander of No. 76 Squadron RAAF, taxis along Marston Matting at Milne Bay, New Guinea in September 1942

  • P02808.001 P-40 Black Magic

    P-40N-15 "Black Magic", No. 78 Squadron RAAF F/L Denis Baker scored the RAAF's last aerial victory over New Guinea in this fighter on 10 June 1944. It was later flown by W/O Len Waters. Note the dark blue tip on the tailfin used to identify 78 Squadron.

  • 118 Sqn RCAF pilots at Sea Island BC 1943

    118 Sqn RCAF Kittyhawk pilots take a group picture on Sea Island in 1943.

  • Fiskencat

    F/O Geoff Fisken in front of his P-40, Wairarapa Wildcat (NZ3072/19)

  • Assembly plant in Iran for American fighter warplanes destined for Russia, 1943 (27167675840)

    Assembly of Tomahawks for Russia, somewhere in Iran, 1943

  • P-40 B Tomahawk NMNA

    Hawk 81A-3/Tomahawk IIb AK255, at the U.S. National Museum of Naval Aviation, is shown in the colors of the Flying Tigers, but never actually served with them; it began life with the RAF and was later transferred to the Soviet Union

  • P-40N (8141412276)

    P-40 Warhawk at Campo Dos Afonsos

  • Curtiss P-40, with shark mouth paint (00910460 060)

    A USAAF Curtiss P-40K-10-CU, serial number 42-9985, c. 1943

  • P40F Merlin

    The Fighter Collection's P-40F G-CGZP, showing Merlin 500 engine

  • Curtiss P-40Fs near Moore AAF 1943

    In the vicinity of Moore Field, Texas. The lead ship in a formation of P-40s is peeling off for the "attack" in a practice flight at the US Army Air Forces advanced flying school. Selected aviation cadets were given transition training in these fighters before receiving their pilot's wings, 1943.

  • Curtiss P-40N

    Curtiss P-40N Warhawk "Little Jeanne" in flight

  • Kittyhawk IA RAAF

    Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk IA of 75th Squadron RAAF, which F/O Geoff Atherton flew over New Guinea in August 1942

  • P-40M in Finnish markings in 1944

    The only Finnish Warhawk in 1944. This aircraft was a former Soviet P-40M (known as Silver 23)

  • Curtiss P-40 Warhawk USSR

    A Soviet P-40B Warhawk in 1942

  • Jacqueline Cochran in a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

    Jackie Cochran in the cockpit of a P-40 fighter aircraft. She was head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

  • Curtiss P-40N on ground

    P-40N 44–7369

See also

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