Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids P-40 Warhawk Tomahawk / Kittyhawk

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 was a famous airplane used during World War II. It was a fighter aircraft, meaning it fought other planes in the sky. It could also attack targets on the ground. This plane was known by a few different names, like the Tomahawk, Warhawk, and Kittyhawk.

The Curtiss company built the P-40. It flew for the very first time in 1938. When World War II began, the P-40 became an important aircraft. It wasn't as fast as some German planes when flying very high up. But it was still used a lot in many other parts of the world.

The P-40 was flown by the United States Army Air Forces. It was also used by a special group of pilots called the "Flying Tigers." These pilots were famous for painting a shark's mouth on the front of their P-40s. This made the planes look very fierce! The P-40 could fly as fast as 360 miles per hour. The United States Air Force stopped using the P-40 in 1948.

Images for kids

The Curtiss XP-40, used for testing by the U.S. Army Air Corps.
A P-40B flying, used for training at Luke Field, Arizona.
This P-40N-5 was badly damaged in a mid-air crash. But F/O T. R. Jacklin still flew it over 200 miles in 1944!
Workers fixing a Tomahawk Mk.II in North Africa, 1941.
A Kittyhawk Mk III moving on the ground in Tunisia, 1943. A crewman helps the pilot see.
A P-40 "Kittybomber" carrying six 250-pound bombs in North Africa, around 1943.
Flying Tigers planes over China in 1942.
A P-40K with special "Tiger" markings from the Aleutian Islands.
This P-40B at Duxford in 2011 is the only one of its kind still flying. It also survived the Pearl Harbor attack!
Junichi Sasai with a captured P-40B in 1942.
P-40F planes on Guadalcanal in 1943.
From top to bottom: P-40L, P-40F, and P-40K Warhawks.
Keith "Bluey" Truscott, a famous pilot, in his P-40E-1 in New Guinea, 1942.
The "Black Magic" P-40N-15. Pilot Denis Baker made the last air victory for Australia over New Guinea in this plane.
Pilots of the 118 Squadron RCAF with their Kittyhawks in 1943.
Geoff Fisken in front of his P-40, named Wairarapa Wildcat.
Assembling Tomahawk planes for Russia in Iran, 1943.
This Tomahawk IIb at the National Museum of Naval Aviation is painted like a Flying Tiger plane.
A P-40 Warhawk at Campo Dos Afonsos.
A USAAF Curtiss P-40K-10-CU with its shark mouth paint, around 1943.
The P-40F G-CGZP, showing its Merlin 500 engine.
P-40s practicing near Moore Field, Texas, in 1943.
The Curtiss P-40N Warhawk "Little Jeanne" flying.
A Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk IA from the 75th Squadron RAAF, flown over New Guinea in 1942.
The only Finnish Warhawk in 1944.
A Soviet P-40B Warhawk in 1942.
Jackie Cochran, who led the Women Airforce Service Pilots, in a P-40 cockpit.
A P-40N 44–7369 on the ground.

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk facts for kids

Images for kids

See also