THE JET AGE RESERVE COLLECTION

AIRCRAFT AT DISPERSAL

As the 150mm depth of the shelves precluded most 1/72 scale twin (and larger single) engined aircraft, the opportunity was taken to field some of the small models that have had little or no public airing since the Jet Age Museum left Staverton in 2000.

The biplane ( a Spad VII used by British and American aces as well as French heroes like Lt Guynemer) and monoplane ( a1914 vintage Moraine Saulnier Type N "Bullet" high speed fighter ) on the left hand side of the third shelf are from the Great War French armed forces while underneath are later aircraft from ( left to right ) Australia, the United States of America, Italy and Germany.

The Boeing Stearman Kaydet biplane was the American equivalent of the De Havilland Tiger Moth as a basic training aircraft. This particular machine bears the pre-Pearl Harbor attack United States Army Air Force markings. After 7 December 1941 American aircraft adopted the blue and white "star and bars" to avoid confusion with the Japanese Hinimaru red disc.

The Fiat CR42 Falco was one of the World's best biplane fighters at the end of the 1930s and some of the 1781 produced were exported to Belgium, Hungary and Sweden as well as serving with the Italian Regia Aeronautica. Ironically, Fascist Falcos were based in Belgium for some token air raids on Britain after Mussolini entered the War in 1940. Other Fiat CR42s flew as night fighters from Sicily against RAF raids in October 1941 and also defended italy;s industrial heartland. However, the Falco was still no match for the Gloster Gladiator, much less Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire aircraft.

Combat proven in the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, the Henschel Hs 123A-1 biplane with its cambered streamlined wing struts, two bladed propeller and spatted undercarriage operated as a dive bomber and ground attack aircraft in both the French and Russian campaigns of World War II.

Click on the picture above for further discussion of post 1918 German aircraft

And finally on the bottom row:

Despite being fitted with an 860 bhp Hispano-Suiza engine, one 20mm canon and two 7.5mm machine guns, the sturdy and highly manoeverable Moraine Saulnier MS 406 was still too slow and poorly armed for the Messerschmitt 109 opposing it in the 1940 Battle of France. 573 examples were built and some were exported to Finland where a more powerful Klimov M-105P inline engine was fitted to improve performance against Soviet fighter aircraft.

Click here for more about Italian aircraft in the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection

Click here for more about Japanese aircraft in the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection

For more on Soviet aircraft in the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection click here

The 375 mph Bell P-39 Airacobra was a unique nosewheel mid-engine design with one 37mm canon firing through the propeller hub and two .50" and four .30"calibre machine guns in the wings. 9 500 examples were produced from April 1942 and many were exported to the Soviet Union to fight the invading Germans

Along with the P-40, the Airacobra was one of the few U.S. fighters available in large numbers at the start of the war. While its lack of a turbosupercharger made it ineffective at about 12,000 feet - and while it was generally outclassed by the Mitsubishi Zero - it served well in the early months of the war in the Pacific. It was relatively free of mechanical defects and breakdowns; like most American aircraft it could absorb a lot of enemy gunfire and still return its pilot back to base.

USAAF ace Bud Anderson first flew the P-39 in late 1942, from Hamilton Field in Novato California while training with the 328th Fighter Group. As he relates in "To Fly and To Fight":

"It was a good-looking airplane. If looks counted for anything, it would have been a great airplane. And the Russians absolutely loved them, and wound up with most of them. Under 15,000 feet, the P-39, called the Airacobra, was a decent if underpowered performer. But the Airacobra was mincemeat above 15,000 feet, and useless in Western Europe, where virtually all of the flying and fighting was at double that altitude.

But in October of 1942, I was thrilled to be flying it. It was unique, with its engine behind the cockpit, and the propeller drive shaft running between the pilot's legs. It had a tricycle landing gear, unlike anything in our arsenal except the P-38. And the cockpit was more like a car's, with a door instead of a swing-up or sliding canopy, and windows that actually rolled up and down with a crank. You could taxi the thing while resting your elbows on the sill, like cruising the boulevard on a Saturday night."

When the guns fired, the pilot could smell the gunpowder in the cockpit. Bud Anderson loved that smell.

Over half of the Airacobras produced, almost 5000 planes, went to the Soviet Union. The first P-39s to reach Soviet hands were delivered from Britain, who had rejected the aircraft after it failed RAF flight testing in late 1941. After accelerated ground and flight testing the Soviet government agreed to delivery of large numbers of Airacobras through the Lend-Lease program. Between 1942 and 1944, Soviet ferry pilots flew approximately 2,600 P-39s into the USSR from Fairbanks, Alaska. Another 2,000 were shipped (crated) to Iran, assembled, inspected, and flown to Soviet bases east of the Caucasus Mountains. The majority of the 4,600 P-39s shipped to the Soviet Union were the highly developed Q-models. Many of these, at Soviet request, lacked the two wing-mounted .50-caliber machine gun pods.

Slowly at first in the summer and fall of 1942, and then rapidly as more aircraft became available in the ensuing months, the Red Air Force transitioned both new and experienced fighter pilots to the P-39, forming or refitting fighter regiments of three squadrons, twelve aircraft per squadron. The mission of the Red Air Force was to support the Red Army, and in order to perform this mission air units at division level and above were subordinated to ground formation commanders. The Red Air Force employed the P-39 Airacobra in several roles: the most common role was to cover or protect ground forces. This entailed patrolling in a zone above a specific Red Army formation and preventing the penetration into that zone of German bombers and their accompanying fighters. A second mission for the P-39 was to escort Il-2 Sturmoviks or Pe-2 dive bombers to attack German troops and installations. In this role the P-39s were used to fend off German fighters or to suppress German anti-aircraft defences.

A third mission for the P-39 was reconnaissance, both air and ground. A fourth mission was "free hunt", wherein pairs of experienced Soviet fighter pilots were permitted to conduct deep penetrations of German airspace over land or sea to search for air or ground targets. A fifth mission for the P-39 was ground attack, primarily of soft targets such as troop concentrations, road convoys or trains, and airfields.

Contrary to popular myth, the P-39 was not employed as a "tank-buster" for two very good reasons. The M4 37mm cannon was slow-firing and only had 30 rounds of ammunition, and the Soviets never received M80 Armour Piercing Shot for this cannon through Lend-Lease. (Even had they received AP ammunition, it was only capable of penetrating 1 inch of armour at 500 yards. After 1943 there were not many German tanks that vulnerable, especially from the top quadrant.) The United States government did deliver approximately 1.2 million M54 High Explosive shells, however, and Soviet P-39 aces put them to good use against both air and soft ground targets.

Several of the Red Air Force's ranking aces flew the P-39 for a major portion of their combat sorties. The top ace in the P-39 and number four overall was Guards Major Gregoriy Rechkalov, who shot down 50 of his total 56 kills while flying a P-39. Guards Colonel Aleksandr Pokryshkin, who finished the war as the number two Soviet ace with 59 individual and 6 shared kills, reportedly flew the P-39 for 48 of his kills. Another high scorer in the P-39 was Guards Major Dmitriy Glinka, who destroyed 20 German aircraft in 40 aerial battles in the summer of 1943, and finished the war with an even 50 kills, 41 of them while flying the P-39. Third-ranked Soviet ace Guards Major Nikolay Gulaev transitioned to the P-39 in early August 1943 with 16 individual and 2 shared kills. He flew his last combat sortie on 14 August 1944 (ordered to attend higher military schooling), leaving the battlefield with an additional 41 individual victories and 1 shared kill after just over one year in his P-39.

The P-39, which achieved so little air combat success in other theatres of war, was effective on the Eastern Front due to the nature of the air war itself. Neither the Germans nor the Soviets engaged in high-altitude, long-range, strategic bombing and the bulk of Soviet war industry had been moved east of the Ural mountains beyond the range of the Luftwaffe. German medium level and dive bombers went out every day, escorted by Bf-109s and FW-190s, to find and attack Soviet Army ground units.

These bombers, and by necessity their escorting fighters, flew at altitudes well within the high performance envelope of the P-39-under 15,000 feet. The P-39, with its nose armament alone, had devastating air-to-air firepower. A hit on a German bomber with a single 37mm round was frequently sufficient to disable or destroy it. The Red Air Force compensated for the P-39's short range by locating their tactical airfields extremely close to the front line-often within artillery range. And during surge periods, when German air activity was intense, Soviet P-39 pilots were known to fly five and even six or more sorties in a single day. Within this combat environment, the P-39 Airacobra was as worthy of respect as the more famous P-38 Lightning, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang.

Because the P-26 flew at 234 mph - and outclimbed slower biplane fighters - the US Army ordered 136 production-model Peashooters. Acclaimed by pilots for its speed and maneuverability, the small but feisty P-26 formed the core of pursuit squadrons throughout the United States.

Twelve export versions, 11 for China and one for Spain, were built. One of a group of P-26s, turned over to the Philippine Army late in 1941, was among the first Allied fighters to down a Japanese airplane in World War II. Funds to buy the export version of the Peashooter were partly raised by Chinese Americans with contribution boxes placed on the counters of Chinese restaurants.

In 1939 the Brewster F2A Buffalo became the first monoplane fighter aircraft used by the US Navy. In December 1941, it suffered severe losses with both British Commonwealth and Dutch air forces in South East Asia, for reasons unrelated to the basic design. It also saw action with US Marine Corps squadrons at the Battle of Midway. The F2A was derided by some American servicemen as a "flying coffin", due to poor construction and perceptions of its general performance. Despite this reputation, the F2A proved a potent weapon with the Finnish Air Force, against the Soviet Air Force.

In 1935 the US Navy issued a requirement for a carrier based fighter to replace the Grumman F3F biplane for which the monoplane Brewster Model 139 - complete with wing flaps, retractable undercarriage and an enclosed cockpit competed against he biplane Grumman XF4F-1

The Navy awarded Brewster the contract; the Model 139 was redesignated as XF2A-1 and the prototype first flew on 2 December 1937. Early test results showed that it was far in advance of the Grumman entry, but while the XF4F-1 would not enter production, it would later re-emerge as the Grumman Wildcat monoplane fighter.

The Brewster XF2A-1 had a stubby fuselage and mid-set wings. It was all-metal, with flush-riveted, stressed aluminum construction, although flying surfaces were still fabric-covered. Split flaps, a hydraulically-operated retractable main undercarriage (and partially retractable tail wheel) and a streamlined framed canopy gave the XF2A-1 a modern look. A Wright R-1820-22 Cyclone producing 850 hp gave it a top speed of 277.5 mph, later boosted to 304 mph at 16,000 ft after improvements were made to the cowling streamlining and carburetor/oil cooler intakes.

Service testing of the Brewster prototype began in January 1938 and, in June, the Navy ordered 54 of the F2A-1 production model. The initial armament mix of two machine guns, a .30 calibre and .50 calibre Browning machine gun mounted in engine cowling firing through the propeller arc, would later be augmented by the provision of an additional two .50 caliber machine guns, one in each wing outboard of the landing gear.

A later variant, the F2A-2, of which 43 were ordered, included a more powerful engine, a better propeller and integral flotation gear, and was followed by the F2A-3. Unfortunately, the improvements added weight that adversely affected the fighter's performance and caused perennial problems with its easily collapsible landing gear especially in shipboard service.

Of the first deliveries, beginning in June 1939, nine went to Squadron VF-3 on the US Saratoga. The balance of 44 were declared surplus and sold to Finland. Although it was becoming clear that the F2A was inferior to the latest German fighters, in early World War II, all modern fighter types were in demand. Consequently, the Royal Air Force, Belgium and the Netherlands East Indies purchased several hundred of the land-based versions.

Just before the start of World War II, Belgium sought more modern aircraft to expand and modernize its air force and ordered 40 F2A-2s. These had a factory designation of B-339 with a different engine, the 1 000 bhp Wright R-1820-G105. The arrestor hook was deleted and the aircraft was modified with a slightly longer tail. Unfortunately, only two aircraft reached France during the collapse of Belgium and they were later captured by the Germans. Six aircraft ended up in Martinique with the French Air Force, where they were eventually destroyed. The rest of the order was passed to the UK, where they were considered unfit for duty in western Europe and they were supplied to British Commonwealth air forces in Asia.

Facing a shortage in combat aircraft in January 1940, the British government established the British Purchasing Commission to acquire US aircraft that would help supplement domestic production. Among the fighters that caught the commission's attention was the Buffalo. The UK ordered 170 of the variant known as B-339E.

The B-339 was fitted with an export approved 1,100 hp Wright Cyclone engine and redesigned for land use with navy equipment such as the life raft and arrestor hook removed.The RAF stipulated numerous upgrades to their order, including replacement of the standard ring and bead gun sight with a British Mk III reflector gun sight, and improving pilot protection, by adding reinforced armor plating and installing armoured glass behind the canopy windshield.

They were sent to Royal Australian Air Force, RAF and Royal new Zealand Air Force fighter squadrons in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, shortly before the outbreak of war with Japan.

Prior to December 1941, the Allied air forces seriously underestimated the numbers, pilots, leadership and capability of their Japanese opponents. Despite having initial successes against the Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar, the five British Commonwealth squadrons that flew Buffalos in the Malayan campaign, suffered severe losses on the ground and in the air, especially during the first week of the campaign, resulting in the ongoing merger of squadrons and their gradual evacuation to the Dutch East Indies

During December 1941 to January 1942 the two RAAF, two RAF and one RNZAF squadrons were beset with numerous problems, including: poorly-built and ill-equipped aircraft; poor supplies of spare parts; inadequate numbers of support staff; airfields that were difficult to defend against air attack; lack of a clear and coherent command structure; antagonism between RAF and RAAF squadrons and personnel, and inexperienced pilots lacking appropriate training.

The Hawker Hurricanes which succeeded the Buffalos from 20 January 1942, also suffered severe losses from ground attacks, and were also virtually wiped out.

Four British Commonwealth pilots: Geoff Fisken, Maurice Holder, Benjamin Clare and Richard Vanderfield, became aces on the Buffalo. Fisken, the highest scoring of them, later flew Curtiss P-40s (Kittyhawks in RAF parlance) and became the highest-scoring Commonwealth pilot within the Pacific theatre.

The Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijt Nederlands-Indisch Leger (ML-KNIL; "Military Air Service of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army") had ordered 144 Brewster B-339C and 339D models, the former with used engines supplied by the Dutch and the latter with new and more powerful engines that Brewster purchased from Wright. By the time war began, only 71 had arrived in the Netherlands East Indies, and not all were in service. A small number served briefly at Singapore before being withdrawn for the defense of Java.

As the Dutch Buffalos were lighter than the F2A-3 used by the US, they were able to successfully dogfight the Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar, although it was still out-turned by the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

Apart from their role as fighters, they were also used as dive bombers against Japanese troopships. Though reinforced by the Commonwealth Buffalos retreating from Malaya, the Dutch squadrons were unable to stem the superiority of Japanese forces at ground level, and they flew their last mission on 7 March 1942. Altogether 17 Dutch pilots were killed, 30 Buffalos were shot down, 15 were destroyed on the ground, and several were lost to misadventure. In return, Dutch pilots claimed 55 enemy aircraft destroyed. In a major engagement on 19 February 1942, eight Dutch Brewsters intercepted a formation of about 35 Japanese bombers, which had an escort of about 20 Zeroes. The Dutch pilots destroyed 11 Japanese aircraft and lost four Buffalos. Two Dutch pilots, Jacob van Helsdingen and August Diebel, scored the highest on the Buffalo. Both recorded a total of three victories.

The US Marine Corps flew F2As at the Battle of Midway, and suffered 15 losses out of 25 aircraft. The grim outcome was the primary source for the reputation of the Brewster being one of the worst fighters flown in combat. However, the main reasons for the losses included the obsolescence of F2A-3, inexperience of USMC pilots, who attempted to enter into a Great War -style dogfight with experienced Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters, and the fact that the Buffalos were outnumbered and caught at a tactical disadvantage.

The poor performance of the Buffalo in the aerial battle sparked Finnish ace Hans Wind to write his combat manual on Brewster; he analysed the air combat, the tactical errors the Americans made and proposed tactics which the Finnish Brewster pilots were to use when encountering different types of enemy fighters. They were later used with remarkable success in 1942-43. Meanwhile, the Battle of Midway marked the end of F2A-3's American combat career. The surviving airframes were transported to mainland US as advanced trainers.

In Finland the Brewsters enjoyed their greatest success. The aircraft did not arrive in time for the Winter War, but their impact in the Continuation War (1941-44) was remarkable. The fighter was never referred to as the Buffalo in Finland; it was known simply as the Brewster, or sometimes by the nickname Taivaan helmi ("Sky Pearl") or Pohjoisten taivaiden helmi ("Pearl of the Northern Skies"). Other nicknames were Pylly-Valtteri ("Butt-Walter"), Amerikanrauta ("American hardware" or "American car") and Lentävä kaljapullo ("flying beer-bottle"). The 44 Brewsters used by the FAF received the serial numbers BW-351 to BW-394. It appears the workmanship of the Finnish airframes was also better than those produced later; this was a common phenomenon as the aircraft factories were manned by a less-skilled workforce after the start of World War II.

The Brewster was regarded as being very easy to fly and many Finnish pilots commented that it was a "gentleman's plane" while the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (also used by the FAF) was "a killing machine." Brewsters were also popular within the FAF because of their long range and endurance, and their good maintenance record. This was due in part to FAF mechanics, who solved a problem plaguing the Wright Cyclone engine by inverting one of the piston rings in each cylinder, thus enhancing engine reliability. The Finnish aircraft also dispensed with most of the US Navy gear such as a life raft, resulting in a considerably lighter aircraft.

In the end, the Brewster gained a reputation as one of the most successful combat aircraft ever flown by the Finnish Air Force. In service during 1941-1945, the Brewsters were credited with 496 Soviet and German aircraft destroyed, against the loss of 19 Brewsters: a victory ratio of 26:1.

During the Continuation War, Lentolaovue 24 (Fighter Squadron 24) was equipped with the B-239s until May 1944, when the Brewsters were transferred to Havittajalentolaivue 26 (Fighter Squadron 26). Most of the pilots of Lentolaivue 24 were Winter War combat veterans and the squadron achieved total of 459 kills with B-239s, while losing 15 Brewsters in combat. For example, between 25 june 1941 and 31 December 1941, LeLv 24 scored 135 kills with Brewsters at a cost of two pilots and two Brewster Buffalos.

The top-scoring Buffalo pilot was Hans Wind, with 39 kills in B-239s. Wind scored 26 of his kills while flying BW-393 and Eino Luukkanen scored seven more kills with the same aircraft. After evaluation of kills claimed on Soviet actual losses, BW-364 is credited with 42½ kills in total, possibly making it the fighter aircraft with the greatest number of victories in the history of air warfare. BW-393 is credited with 40 victories.

The top scoring Finnish ace,Ilmari Juutilainen, scored 34 of his 94 and one-half kills while flying B-239s, including 28 kills with BW-364.

Although the Buffalo was clearly obsolete in 1944, barely holding its own against Soviet fighters, with most airframes worn out, LeLv 26 pilots still scored some 35 victories against the Soviets in the summer of 1944. The last aerial victory by a Brewster against the Soviet Union was scored over the Karelian Isthmus on 17 June 1944. After Finland agreed to a truce, it was obliged to turn against its former ally, Germany, and a Brewster pilot, Lt Erik Teromaa (11 kills), claimed a Luftwaffe Stuka on 3 October 1944 during the Lapland War.

The last flight made by a Buffalo in Finnish service was on 14 September 1948

The Chance Vought Corsair saw service in World War II, the Korean War and subsequent "brush fire" conflicts of the Cold War and post Colonial era, notably with the French Aeronavale and other services). Indeed, the Corsair served in some air forces until the 1960s, following the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in history (1940 - 1953).

The Corsair started life as the result of a U.S. Navy requirement for a carrier aircraft which could match the performance of the best land and carrier-based fighter planes. Designed in 1938 by Rex Biesel, the first prototype Corsair designated XF4U-1 first flew on 29 May 1940. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine, became the first U.S. single-engine production aircraft capable of 400 mph (640 km/h) in level flight. This was a remarkable achievement for Vought, as compared to land-based counterparts, carrier aircraft are "overbuilt" and heavier to withstand the extreme stress of deck landings.

The Corsair first entered service in 1942. Although designed as a carrier fighter, initial operation from carrier decks proved to be troublesome. Its slow speed handling was tricky due to the port wing stalling before the starboard wing. This factor, together with poor visibility over the long "Hose Nose" engine casing, made landing a Corsair on a carrier a difficult task.

For these reasons, most Corsairs initially went to Marine Corps squadrons who operated off land-based runways, which in turn led Goodyear to build some early Corsairs with fixed, non-folding wings.The USMC aviators welcomed the Corsair with open arms as its performance was far superior to the F4F-3 and -4 Wildcat, which were being used at that time, and superior in a number of ways to the F6F Hellcat, which replaced the Wildcat.

Moreover, the Corsair was able to outperform the primary Japanese fighter, the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero". While the Zero could out-turn the F4U at slower speeds, the Corsair was faster and could out-climb and out-dive the enemy fighters. Tactics developed early in the war, such as the Thach Weave, took advantage of the Corsair's strengths.

This performance advantage, combined with the ability to take severe punishment, meant that a pilot could place an enemy aircraft in the killing zone from the F4U's six .50-caliber Browning machine guns and keep him there long enough to inflict major damage. The 2,300 rounds carried by the Corsair gave over one full minute of fire from each gun. This, fired in three-to-six-second bursts, made the U-Bird a devastating weapon against aircraft, ground targets, and even ships.

The Royal Navy also received Corsairs from 1943 and went ahead with flying them from Fleet Air Arm (FAA) carriers successfully in combat with the British Pacific Fleet and in Norway. The Corsair also served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II

As the most capable carrier-based fighter-bomber of the war, demand for Corsairs soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in additional aircraft being produced by the Goodyear Company (as the FG-1) and the Brewster Company (as the F3A-1). From the first prototype delivery to the US Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs had been manufactured by Vought

The Corsair is popularly known as "The Sweetheart of the Marianas" and "The Angel of Okinawa" for its roles in these campaigns respectively—the names were given by ground troops rather than by naval and Marine personnel. Among pilots, however, the aircraft was nicknamed "Ensign Eliminator" and "Bent-Wing Eliminator" because it required many more hours of flight training to master than other Navy carrier-borne aircraft. It was also called simply "U-bird" or "Bent Wing Bird".

The Corsair has been named the official aircraft of Connecticut, due to its connection with Sikorsky Aircraft, in legislation sponsored by state senator George "Doc" Gunther; Gunther also organized a Corsair Celebration and Symposium at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Connecticut, on Memorial Day, 29 May 2006

The Kittyhawk I saw two major changes from the earlier Tomahawk. It used the Allison V-1710-39 engine, which gave better performance at altitude than the earlier engines, although still not as good as that provided by the Rolls Royce Merlin. The two .50 calibre machine guns from the nose were also moved to the wings. The RAF received 20 Kittyhawk Is, before requesting an increase in firepower, which resulted in the Mk IA.

Kittyhawk 1 LG139 of 112 Squadron RAF was - in February 1942 - the regular mount of Flight Officer Neville Duke, later to rise to the rank of Squadron Leader, World Air Speed Record Holder and personal pilot to Sir George Dowty.

The Mk IA was the same as the P- 40E ( as depicted in the model above) . The main change from the Mk I was the replacement of the .30 calibre wing guns with .50 calibre guns, giving the new model six .50 calibre guns. 1,500 Kittyhawk IAs were produced, and the model was used by the RAF and several Commonwealth air forces.

The first Kittyhawk IIs were similar to the P-40F, using Packard Merlin XX engines which improved the performance at altitude. 250 of these aircraft were allocated to the RAF, but in the event none of the reached RAF service, going instead to the Russians and Free French. The P-40L was also called the Kittyhawk II by the RAF, but again did not serve in significant numbers.

The RAF designation Kittyhawk III was also allocated to two different versions of the fighter. It was first used for the P-40K, with the Allison V-1710-73 engine and six .50 calibre machine guns. Only 21 of these guns served with the RAF. The designation was retained for the 595 P-40Ms received by the RAF. The only main change between the two types was the use of the Allison V-1710-81 engine.

The RAF and Commonwealth air forces received 586 P-40Ns, under the designation Kittyhawk IV. This was the best version of the Kittyhawk, with the best top speed, of 378 mph. Originally armed with four .50 calibre guns, two extra guns were soon restored. The Kittyhawk IV was normally used as a ground attack aircraft, as despite the improvement in performance it could not compete with the most modern German aircraft.

The Kittyhawk reached North Africa in December 1941, when it replaced the Tomahawks of 3 RAAF Squadron. The Kittyhawk was the RAF’s main fighter in the desert during the first half of 1942 but sadly it was badly outclassed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109F. The German fighter had much better performance at altitude, and the Kittyhawk suffered heavy loses. The German pilots could fly above the Kittyhawks, swooping down on the lower flying allied aircraft, and then climbing away. The fighting was not entirely one-sided, and not every German or Italian aircraft was a Bf 109. The Kittyhawk could cope with most other Axis aircraft present in North Africa.

With the Americans in the war, the Kittyhawks in North Africa were soon joined by P-40s of the USAAF. Sheer weight of numbers eventually wore down the German’s Desert Air Force. The P-40 also played a part in the Allied victory at El Alamein, in its ground attack role. Although its role in North Africa became increasingly that of a fighter bomber, it retained a fighter role for the rest of the campaign. Between 1 January 1942 and May 1943, Kittyhawk pilots had claimed 420 victories.

Although many of the Kittyhawk squadrons used in North Africa reequipped with Spitfires, Mustangs and other more modern aircraft for the invasion of Italy, two retained their Kittyhawks until the end of the war. In Italy the P-40 was used almost entirely as a ground attack aircraft, taking advantage of its good low altitude speed and rugged construction.

At the same time as the RAAF was getting its first Kittyhawks in the desert, the Japanese entered the war. Australia itself was suddenly vulnerable. Twenty five Kittyhawk Is from the RAF order were diverted to Australia, where they equipped 75 Squadron. On 21 March 1942 this squadron transferred to Port Moresby. There it came face to face with the Mistubishi A6M Zero. By 9 May only two aircraft remained serviceable, but the squadron had shot down 18 Japanese aircraft and destroyed 17 on the ground, at a cost of 22 Kittyhawks.

Two new Kittyhawk Squadrons (76 and 77) arrived in time to play a decisive part in repelling an attempted Japanese attack on Milne Bay on 24 August. This marked a major turning point in New Guinea. RAAF Kittyhawks played a part in the allied counter attack in New Guinea. As the Pacific war moved closer to Japan, the RAAF was left to deal with the isolated Japanese garrisons left behind.

Russia received 2,000 Kittyhawks, starting with small numbers from British orders. A large number were used for advanced training, but some did see combat in the northern front, against the Finns.

Curtiss had been the primary supplier of fighter aircraft to the U.S. Army Air Corps. since its inception, and the company was dismayed when the Army procured the Boeing P-26 Peashooter in 1932. Curtiss responded by hiring Mr. Donovan Berlin, a bright young engineer who was working for Northrop. Donovan developed the Hawk 75, a streamlined, low-wing, monoplane coastal defense fighter. With an enhanced Twin Wasp engine the Hawk 75 evolved into the Curtiss P- 36 Hawk, which had a brief and fairly undistinguished career with the Air Corps. In 1938 a P-36 was retrofitted with the Allison in-line 12-cylinder, 1150 HP engine, and the P-40 was born.

The Curtiss Model 75 was a private venture by the company, and the first prototype constructed in 1934 featured all-metal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces, a Wright XR-1670-5 radial engine developing 900 hp (671 kW), and typical US Army Air Corps armament of one 0.30-calibre. and one 0.50-calibre. machine guns firing through the propeller arc. Also typical of the time was the total absence of armour or self-sealing fuel tanks. The distinctive landing gear which rotated 90 degrees to fold the main wheels flat into the thin trailing portion of the wing was actually a Boeing-patented design for which Curtiss had to pay royalties.

The P-36 Hawk prototype flew in May 1935, reaching 281 mph (452 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m) during early test flights. On 27 May 1935, the prototype was flown to Wright Field, Ohio, to compete in the USAAC fly-off for a new single-seat fighter but the contest was delayed because the Seversky entry crashed on the way to the contest. Curtiss took advantage of the delay to replace the unreliable engine with a Wright XR-1820-39 Cyclone producing 950 hp (709 kW) and to rework the fuselage, adding the distinctive scalloped rear windows to improve rear visibility. The new prototype was designated Model 75B with the R-1670 version retroactively designated Model 75D. The fly-off finally took place in April 1936. Unfortunately, the new engine failed to deliver its rated power and the aircraft attained only 285 mph (460 km/h).

Although its competitor, the Seversky P-35, also underperformed and was more expensive, it was still declared the winner and awarded a contract for 77 aircraft. Then, on 16 June 1936, Curtiss received an order from USAAC for three prototypes designated Y1P-36. The USAAC was concerned about political turmoil in Europe and about Seversky's ability to deliver P-35s in a reasonable timeframe and therefore wanted a backup fighter. The Y1P-36 (Model 75E) was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-13 Twin Wasp engine producing 900 hp (671 kW) and further enlarged scalloped rear canopy. The new aircraft performed so well that it won the 1937 USAAC competition with an order for 210 P-36A fighters.

Argentina bought a number of the simplified, fixed landing gear Hawk 75Os, (intended for rough-field operations and ease of maintenance) and purchased a manufacturing license for the type, subsequently building 200 aircraft from 1940. Argentinian Hawks remained in service until 1954. In March 1942, ten USAAC P-36As were transferred to Brazil.

The prototype of the Hawk 75H - a simplified version with fixed landing gear, like the 75O - was eventually sold to the Chinese Nationalist government who presented it to Claire L. Chennault for personal use. China also received two similar demonstrators, the Hawk 75Q. They also used a number of simplified Hawk 75Ms againstthe Japanese. The Hawk 75A-5 was built under license in China, but production was later moved to India, and these machines were absorbed into the RAF as the Mohawk IV.

After the fall of France, Germany agreed to sell captured Curtiss Hawk fighters to Finland in October 1940. In total, 44 captured aircraft were sold to Finland with three deliveries from 23 June 1941 to 5 January 1944. Not all were from the French stocks, but some were initially sold to Norway and captured in their wooden crates when the Germans conquered the country. The aircraft were given serial codes CU-551 to CU-585, including CU-562 modelled above.

In Finnish service, the Hawk was well-liked, affectionately called Sussu ("Sweetheart"). The Finnish Air Force enjoyed success with the type, credited with 190 1/3 kills by 58 pilots, from 1941-44. Finnish ace Kyosti Karhila scored 13 1/4 of his 32 victories in the Hawk, while the top Hawk ace K. Tervo scored 15 3/4 victories. The Hawks were flown by Lentolaivue 32 throughout their wartime operational service.

The Finnish Hawks were initially armed with either four or six 7.5 mm machine guns. While sufficient during the early phase of Continuation War, the increasing speeds and armour of Soviet aircraft soon showed this armament was not powerful enough. From 1942 the State Aircraft Factory replaced the fuselage machine guns with either one or two 12.7 mm Colt machine guns and installed two 7.7 mm Browning machine guns to each wing. The 12.7 mm Berezin UB or LKk/42 heavy machine guns were also used. The installation of heavier armament did not cause changes to the very good flying characteristics of the fighter but the armament was much more powerful against Soviet planes. The Finnish Hawks were also equipped with Revi 3D or C/12D gunsight.

Even before the P-36A entered production, the French Air Force entered negotiations with Curtiss for delivery of 300 aircraft. The negotiating process ended up being very drawn-out because the cost of the Curtiss fighters was double that of the French Morane-Saulnier MS 406 and Bloch MB 150 and the delivery schedule was deemed too slow. Since the USAAC was unhappy with the rate of domestic deliveries and believed that export aircraft would slow things down even more, it actively opposed the sale. Eventually, it took direct intervention from U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to give the French test pilot Michel Detroyat a chance to fly the Y1P-36.

Detroyat's enthusiasm, problems with the MB.150, and the pressure of continuing German rearmament finally forced France to purchase 100 aircraft and 173 engines. The first Hawk 75A-1 arrived in France in December 1938 and began entering service in March 1939. After the first few examples, aircraft were delivered in pieces and assembled in France by the Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques du Centre. Officially designated Curtiss H75-C1 (the "Hawk" name was not used in France), the aircraft were powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC-G engines with 900 hp (671 kW) and had metric, translated instruments, a seat for French dorsal parachutes, a French-style throttle which operated in reverse from U.S. and British aircraft (e.g. full throttle was to the rear rather than to the front) and armament of four 7.5 mm machine guns. The aircraft evolved through several modifications and by the time France fell to German occupation, the French Air Force had 291 H75As in service.

On 8 September 1939, aircraft from Groupe de Chasse II/4 were credited with shooting down two Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109Es, the first Allied air victory of World War II on the Western front. During 1939-1940, French pilots claimed 230 confirmed and 80 probable victories in H75s against only 29 aircraft lost in aerial combat. Of the 11 French aces of the early part of the war, seven flew H75s. The leading ace of the time was Lt. Marin La Meslee with 15 confirmed and five probable victories in the type. H75-equipped squadrons were evacuated to French North Africa before the Armistice to avoid capture by the Germans. While under the Vichy Government, these units clashed with British aircraft over Mers el Kebir and Dakar. During Operation Torch in North Africa, French H75s fought against U.S. Navy F4F Wildcats, losing 15 aircraft to seven shot down American planes. From late 1942 on, the Allies started re-equipping French units formerly under Vichy and the H75s were replaced by P-40 Kittyhawks and P-39 Airacobra.

In October 1939, the Netherlands East Indies government ordered 24 Hawk 75A-7s, powered by 1200 hp Cyclones. They had 4 x 7.7 mm machine guns (two in the nose and one in each wing) and could carry 2 x 100-pound bombs. The fighters were shipped in 1940 (and were almost rerouted to the Netherlands, when Germany invaded) and were used extensively leading up to the Japanese attack. However, by that time the aircraft had flown so many hours, the engines were worn out.

These Dutch Hawks formed 1-VlG IV, or Vliegtuiggroep IV, 1e afdeling (1st Squadron, Airgroup IV) of the ML-KNIL and some with 1-VlG V. They saw action over Malakka, Sumatra and Java, successfully bombing a railroad and intercepting bombers. They also participated in the extensive dogfights over Surabaya, where US, RAF and ML-KNIL aircraft together fought Japanese bombers and fighters.

Norway ordered 24 Twin Wasp-powered Hawk 75A-6s, of which 19 were delivered and seven assembled at the time of the German invasion. None of the aircraft were combat-ready. The disassembled aircraft were disabled by a single customs employee who smashed the instruments and cut all the wires he could reach. Norwegian Hawks captured by the Germans were part of the batch sent to Finland. Norway also ordered 36 Cyclone-powered Hawk 75A-8s, most (30) of which were delivered to a Norwegian training base (established by the exile-government in London and named "Little Norway") near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as advanced trainers. Still later, they were resold to the U.S. as the P-36G.

Ten Hawk 75A-9s were delivered to Persia, but were captured by the British while still in crates. These were then used by the RAF in India as Mohawk IVs. In 1943 the U.S. sent 28 Hawks to Peru under the Lend-Lease agreement. These were ex-Norwegian P-36Gs that had served in Canada. Twelve British Mohawks ended up in Portugal, after they became obsolete in the RAF.

A few Hawk 75Ns were used by Thailand during the French-Thai War. They also fought at the Battle of Prachuab Khirikan against Japanese forces.

Like others, the Royal Air Force also displayed considerable interest in the aircraft. Comparison of a borrowed French Hawk 75A-2 with a Supermarine Spitfire Mk I revealed that the Hawk had several advantages over the early variant of the iconic British fighter. The Hawk was found to have lighter controls than the Spitfire at speeds over 300 mph (480 km/h), especially in diving attacks, and was easier to manoeuvre in a dogfight thanks to the less-sensitive elevator and better all-around visibility. The Hawk was also easier to control on takeoff and landing. Not surprisingly, the Spitfire's superior acceleration and top speed ultimately gave it the advantage of being able to engage and leave combat at will.

Although Britain decided not to purchase the aircraft, they soon came in possession of 229 Hawks comprised of diverted shipments to occupied France and aircraft flown by escaping French pilots. The aircraft received the designations Mohawk I to IV, mirroring French Hawk 75A-1 to A-4, and were fitted with 0.303-calibre Vickers K machine guns and conventional throttles (forward to increase power). Obsolete by the standards of the European theatre, 72 Mohawks were sent to the South African Air Force, and a number served in India and Burma.

In April 1941, the Indian government ordered 48 Cyclone-powered Hawk 75As to be built by Hindustan Aircraft. The first Indian-built machine was test flown on July 31, 1942. Four additional machines were completed before the project was abandoned. The Indian-built machines were absorbed into the RAF as Mohawk IVs. Similarly, Chinese license production of the Hawk 75A-5 was moved to India, and these machines were also absorbed into RAF as Mohawk IV.

The first production P-36As were delivered to the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field in Louisiana in April 1938. The aircraft's service history was marred by numerous teething problems with engine exhaust, skin buckling over landing gear, and weak points in the airframe, severely restricting the performance envelope. By the time these issues were resolved, the P-36 was considered obsolete and was relegated to training units and overseas detachments at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone, Elmendorf Field in Alaska, and Wheeler Field in Hawaii. The only combat with US-operated P-36s took place during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941. Four of the 39 aircraft were able to take off during the attack and were credited with shooting down two Japanese Nakajima B5N bombers, first U.S. aerial victories of the Pacific War.

Though the new Grumman TBF Avenger was entering production as its intended replacement, the TBD-1 was the Pacific Fleet's sole torpedo plane for the first part of the war against Japan. It seemingly did well in the raids of February-March 1942 and in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, serving in both the torpedo attack and high-level bombing roles.

However, in the space of an hour on 4 June 1942, during the Battle of Midway, the TBD entered the annals of Naval history as a synonym for costly futility. Three squadrons of TBD-1s made heroic torpedo attacks on the Japanese carrier force, losing all but four of forty-one aircraft while achieving no hits. Old and slow, with a weak defensive armament and without self-sealing fuel tanks, the TBD had proven horribly vulnerable to enemy fighters, though this vulnerability was to a great extent typical of all torpedo attacks against well-defended ships.

At the end of the Midway battle, the Navy had just thirty-nine TBDs left. New Avengers quickly took their place on Pacific Fleet flight decks, but the older planes continued to serve (briefly) in the Atlantic Fleet and in training squadrons until late 1943. The twenty-one TBDs left in the US Navy inventory at the start of 1944 were mainly employed as stationary hulks for maintainance training, and all were gone by the end of that year. There are no surviving TBDs today, though hope exists for recovery, restoration and exhibit of a plane lost at sea.

The TBD's short production life, and specialized intended employment, precluded much variety in the type. The first production unit was converted to a floatplane, designated TBD-1A, and used for tests well into World War II. With the 1941 adoption of popular names for Navy aircraft, the TBD began to be called the "Devastator", but for most of its operational life, it was just known as the TBD-1.

The prototype, the XF4F-2, first flew on 2 September 1937 and the prototype of an improved version, the XF4F-3, was renamed the F4F and was ordered by the US Navy in August 1939. The first five aircraft off the assembly line were sent to Canada, with the next 90 (designated "Martlet Mk I" ) going to the 804 Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm where, in December 1940, two Martlets ( nicknamed "Peanut Specials) made history by becoming the first American-made aircraft to down a German plane in World War II.

The first US Navy F4F-3 was flown on 20 August 1940, powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine with 1,200 horsepower. The subsequent F4F-4, incorporating several improvements including folding wings, six guns and self-sealing fuel tanks, was delivered in November 1941.

It was then that the name "Wildcat" was first given to the F4F. As war raged around the world, the Wildcat's reputation and utilization grew immensely. It flew with the US Navy and US Marines in all of the major Pacific battles, and in North Africa with the Navy.

In mid 1942, Grumman realized that it needed to concentrate on the production of its new F6F Hellcat fighter, and so it contracted with the General Motors Company to build the Wildcat under the designation FM-1. The first FM-1 flew on 31 August 1942, and over 1,150 of them were produced, hundreds of which went to the Fleet Air Arm as the "Martlet Mk V."

General Motors next developed an improved version, called the FM-2 ("Wildcat Mk VI" in the Fleet Air Arm), which was powered by a Wright R-1820 engine with 1,350 horsepower. It featured a taller vertical tail than the FM-1. Over 4,700 FM-2s were built before the Wildcat was eclipsed by the more capable fighters which appeared later in the war.

Production of the F8F-1 began just six months after the first flight of the prototype, and the first airplane was delivered to the US Navy's VF-19 squadron on 21 May 1945. The Navy's order totaled 2,033 airplanes, and Grumman contracted with General Motors to build the Bearcat under license, with the designation F8FM-1. Only a few Bearcats had been delivered to the Navy when the end of the war halted production. Grumman cancelled 1,258 of its Bearcats, and General Motors cancelled its entire order of 1,876. Production resumed after the war, and several variants were made, including the F8F-1B, with four 20mm cannon in place of the previously-fitted 12.7mm (0.5 inch) machine guns; several night fighter variants (F8F-1N and F8F-2N); and a photo-reconnaissance version (F8F-2P). Production continued until May 1949.

At least 24 US Navy squadrons flew the Bearcat, some until as late as 1952, after which a number of aircraft were sold to the French Armee de l'Air for combat operations in Indo-China. Another 129 Bearcats were sold to the Thai Air Force.