the flying tigers aircraft

[Zglossip]

just recently finished academy 1:72 scale p-40 warhawk i painted and decaled like a flying tiger i believe this is one of my best hope you guys like it

[ghodges]

Good work! Flying Tiger P-40Bs are one of my favorite planes in history, I guess because I like "underdog" aircraft. They gave us hope when the going was tough! Congrats on adding that piece of history to your collection!

 

GIL

[RGronovius]

Nice job, the old Monogram Flying Tiger kit was one of the coolest airplanes around, that's why everyone loves them!

[aAzZ09]

Way to go, Z! Claire Chennault would be proud! Keep up the good work!

 

Mark

[Zglossip]

thank you all for the wonderful comments . this aircraft was a really fun build and would recommend it for anybody the parts fit together well and it comes with a wide selection of decals not much detail in the cockpit tho .

[rcflyer]

Awesome job. I've always loved the story of the AVG.

[BigSkyModeler]

I just happen to have a Revell AVG P-40B in my stash.

[Gromit801]

I think the AVG used P-40C Tomahawks, but there wasn't a lot of difference.

[BigSkyModeler]

The planes the AVG began with were 100 P-40B's (actually Curtis Hawk 81-A3's) that were originally bound for England under Lend-Lease. :gray-plane:

[Gromit801]

They were Royal Air Force Tomahawk IIBs, perhaps with some elements of the older IIA model thrown in. Here's how the Curtiss fighter developed:

In 1938, Curtiss sold 200 radial-engined P-36 fighters to the U.S. Army. The company model number was H-75, and many were sold abroad as Hawk 75s. The plane was obsolescent compared to fighters coming on line in Europe, so Curtiss redesigned it for the liquid-cooled Allison engine. The result was its model H-81, arguably the most handsome American fighter of all time. The U.S. Army bought 200 and put them in service as the plain-vanilla P-40. France ordered 140, which Curtiss built under the company built under the designation H-81A. After France fell, Britain took over the order and put the planes into service under the fighting name of Tomahawk (Mark I). Because they lacked protection for the pilot and fuel tanks, the British used them only as trainers.

The RAF then ordered an improved version with armor plate, "armourglass" in the windshield, and self-sealing fuel tanks. This model was known to Curtiss as H-81A2 and to the British as Tomahawk Mark II. However, the rubber fuel-tank membrane was external and therefore not entirely adequate to stop a leak; that, plus the Tomahawk's lack of high-altitude capability, caused the RAF to assign it only to Commonwealth squadrons in North Africa. Only 110 were built, of which 23 went to Russia and one to Canada. With U.S. equipment, the Army Air Corps bought 131 and put them into service as the P-40B, known to Curtiss as H-81B.

The British next asked Curtiss to install an interior fuel-tank membrance, and in the winter of 1940-1941 the last and most numerous of the small-mouthed fighters began to move down the assembly line in Buffalo. Curtiss didn't regard the change as significant enough to warrant a new designation, which remained H-81A2 for the British Purchasing Commission and H-81B for the War Department. The RAF took the plane into service as the IIB, while the U.S. Army called it P-40C. (The "C" model had other improvements, including shackles on the underside of the fuselage for a droppable fuel tank.) Britain bought 930 Tomahawk IIBs, and the U.S. Army bought 193 of the more-or-less equivalent P-40Cs. Most Tomahawk IIBs likewise went to North Africa; some went to Russia after the Germans invaded in July 1941, and 100 were diverted to China to equip the American Volunteer Group.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Gromit801

[ghodges]

Great info Jim! Thanks for posting!

 

GIL