Official FMS 1400mm P-40B Warhawk Thread

[OV10]

Got her up in the air today and she flew pretty good for a remaiden. Thought, for the fun of it, I'd try her with the tank on. Doesn't do anything for me, so it'll be in the mail this week. Off to Owego, New York to hang on the worlds coolest P-40!
I'm going to have to yank the tail wheel assembly as its not staying in place. Tried to tighten up the side screws holding the wheel into the retract mechanism, but no luck. The good news she flew like her old self, a bit of trim and there she was. Landing was okay but with the tail wheel issue, it wasn't 100%. So a bit of work to be done yet. Maybe one of these days, I'll do the Charlie Brown mod and there'll be to yaw dropping P-40's in the air !!

Grossman56

Going go with the short range interdiction fighter EH. ;)
I look forward to the DT gift.....:Cool:
My repaired drop(from NEFI belly) got creamed again on a belly at Twowings airfields when a 4 yr old Turnpuff had a cell drop out.:(
More Admiral orders from Motion as I weed out about 4-5 questionable 4&6 cell Gforce and Turnpuffs :Scared:

[Alpha]

Going go with the short range interdiction fighter EH. ;)
I look forward to the DT gift.....:Cool:
My repaired drop(from NEFI belly) got creamed again on a belly at Twowings airfields when a 4 yr old Turnpuff had a cell drop out.:(
More Admiral orders from Motion as I weed out about 4-5 questionable 4&6 cell Gforce and Turnpuffs :Scared:

Can't wait to see that, OV10!

I feel your pain on cell drop outs. I've been there! Flying as much as we do it's bound to happen.

[Boots Whirlygig]

Hey OV10, you replaced the P-40 stock 4S 650kv with the 6S P-47 motor? :Scared:
I missed that at nefi!

[OV10]

Hey OV10, you replaced the P-40 stock 4S 650kv with the 6S P-47 motor? :Scared:
I missed that at nefi!

Sorry Boots......can't help that you were napping while I was showing off with unlimited vertical corkscrews LOL

[Boots Whirlygig]

Sorry Boots......can't help that you were napping while I was showing off with unlimited vertical corkscrews LOL

Napping!?! No I was probably scouring the windyanna countryside looking for my flyaway Opterra! :Angry:

[Grossman56]

I did a pretty intensive search Boots and didn't see a sign of her. We thought we'd spotted it one time as it was white and triangular, got up t the piece and it was some styrofoam packing that someone hadn't disposed of properly.
You missed one of the highlights of the show, CB was up to at least 1500 feet (SHHHH). Finally lost sight of her and rolled her over. Quite the memorable moment !!

Grossman56

[Capt. Crunch]

just watched a documentary on the P-40....now I want a flying tiger....I have GOT to stay off of You Tube

[Capt. Crunch]

I'm going to try to post a link to the vid I just watched. Bare with me, this is my first time attempting this...

https://youtu.be/4bsUQ_U3bjo

[Capt. Crunch]

Awesome! It worked!!

Its a very good video of General Chennault and his flying Tigers

[R.T. Macleod]

New to the forum and the R.C. World, so please bear with me as I do not know
the decorums (sic) here yet.
I am a retired (due to injury) general aviation pilot, a former Marine pilot, and really love military
history, especially W.W. ll, the A.V.G. In particular.
One of the reasons, among many, is my great-grandfather on my mothers side, was Robert Smith,
who flew with the A.V.G. before the Army Air-Corps incorporation into the 14th Air Force, 23rd fighter group.

One of the only reasons I felt the need to tell of this relationship, is the oft time maligning of the Curtiss fighter.
Claire Chennault, in the approximately year before the savage attack on Pearl Harbour, in country in China,
had wisely observed the Japanese planes, tactics, altitudes, bearings etc., and having been given a Curtiss P-36 Hawk
by Madame Chiang,(the 'head' of the Chinese air forces!) he flew many 'missions' over the area around Kunming,
and several hundred miles out.

Chennault even managed to down quite a few twin engine bombers, as well as several unaware fighters,
most of whom were used to no real opposition!

He even got hold of Japanese flight manuals, had them translated, and learned more about their
tactics and flight rules than any single enemy pilot.

One of the reasons for this long telling is to try and set the record straight about some very bad
misconceptions that almost every documentary seems to leave out.

When Chennault recruited his 100-some pilots, (plus ground crews, mechanics, armorers and admins.)
he put the pilots, most who had never flown the P-40, through his self-named 'Kindergarten',
to teach them from the before mentioned manuals, and most importantly, his own observations.

What was stressed, was that above 15,00 feet, the A6-M Zero (or Zeke as it was more commonly called then)
while slower by about 45 miles an hour, could out-turn the Curtiss fighter, so for God's sake don't do ANYTHING
but get above, dive, fire off a short burst then continue diving away, pick up your speed in the dive, climb and do it again.

But here is the part usually left out:

Up to about 14,00 feet the P-40B was more than a match for the Zeke!

The Curtiss fighter had a lighter wing loading, vastly better ailerons, and while giving up about 1,500 lbs.
to the Zeke, the VT-1710 V-12 produced almost 400 h-p more at those lower elevations to the radial used in the Jap plane.

Chennault knew the Japanese would try and stay at the altitudes that favored their aircraft, but as is so often
the case in a real fight, both fighters end up in the 'weeds'.

If this happened (as it often did) the Zeke was easy 'meat' for the P-40.

A very short burst from the two Browning M-3 50 calibers, and the four 30's in the wings, would send a Japanese pilot
the very real possibility of dying for his beloved Emperor!

The Zeke was expected to survive because of 'superior' climb rate (which it did have) and superior maneuverability,
plus very good training.

But they had sacrificed any real armor, and self-sealing tanks were just a wish, for range.

Point is, every plane has strong and weak points.

The Zeke, and even the army's Oscar, had a poor spar design, not corrected until later models were introduced,
rendering a sharp turn and dive to the starboard a guaranteed way to lose the wing!

The A.V.G. had the best record of any squadron, before or since.

Because of superior tactics, vastly better knowledge on our side, and a tough and powerful plane, the A.V.G. sent at least 299 Japanese planes down in flame, and another 279 probables.

They held the line against vastly superior numbers, keeping China in the war, tying up untold numbers of enemy troops,
planes and resources.

Just wanting to set the record straight!

[TiredIronGRB]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk R.T. and thank you for your service to our country! Great info on the P-40:Cool:

[Dewey H Lee]

That was extremely informative and interesting. Welcome to the fourm and i look forward to more information like this. This really shines more light on my P40 and will fly it thinking about what you wrote with the utmost respect for your Great Grandfather.:Cool::).

[Grossman56]

Thanks for the info RT, very informative, welcome to the hobby and welcome to the Squawk!!
Actually just finished reading RT's book for the nth time, great read for anyone into the Flying Tigers (Why wouldn't you be??)
So how much have you flown so far??

Grossman56

[Hardway]

Going to order one today... I have been wanting to get her for a while, but was distracted by all the new stuff coming out!! :-) Built the Revell 1/32 scale kit many times. That is a P-40E, but who's keeping score? Looking forward to flying the "Tiger".

[Hardway]

I am being lazy, but I am going to ask anyway!!! :Drinks: The wheel covers on the P-40B (#77) are red white and blue. Does anyone have a full size template they could post so I can make an accurate mask to paint the covers??

[Hardway]

Callie, I am not being cheap!! LOL I just want to paint them. Maybe you can make me a set or three of masks?? Let's see what the guys come up with!!!!

[Grossman56]

Hey Hardway, this is what I used and downsized it to fit onto the disc, then traced it and hand painted it on. Each shapes is the same, so you can cut one out and use the open spot as a stencil, then just rotate it around. Also, I think it was Warbird Charlie who printed them off, stuck them on and coated them. I'd recommend that if you wanted to go that route, your better off to whip out the model airplane paints and paint them to the paper, then try gluing them on, the printer ink can run, so.....



Grossman56

[Hardway]

Thank you so much!! I will size it and use the airbrush!! I really appreciate it!! After I posted the pic from Callie, I realized I could just size that one.... Been a long day!!!

[e4dragongunner]

Welcome Marine, :-)

[e4dragongunner]

I painted mine on, masked and airbrushed. :-)