The P-40 was the best known Curtiss-Wright designed airplane of the Second World War. It was also one of the most controversial fighters, vilified by many as being too slow, lacking in maneuverability, having too low a climbing rate, and being largely obsolescent by contemporary standards even before it went into production. The inadequacies of the P-40 were even the subject of a Congressional investigation after the War ended.

While these criticisms were certainly valid, it is also true that the P-40 served its country well, especially in China and Burma, during the opening phase of the War in the Pacific when little else was available to the US Army Air Corps. Along with the P-39 Airacobra, the P-40 was the only American fighter available in quantity to confront the Japanese advance until more modern aircraft could be delivered to frontline squadrons.

The P-40N (manufactured from 1943-44) represented the final production model of the P-40. The P-40N featured a stretched rear fuselage to counter the torque of the more powerful, late-war Allison engine, and the rear deck of the cockpit behind the pilot was cut down at a moderate slant to improve rearward visibility. A great deal of work was also done to try and eliminate excess weight to improve the Warhawk's climb rate. Early N production blocks dropped a .50 in (12.7 mm) gun from each wing, bringing the total back to four; later production blocks reintroduced it after complaints from units in the field. Supplied to Commonwealth air forces as the Kittyhawk Mk IV. A total of 553 P-40Ns were acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force, making it the variant most commonly used by the RAAF. Subvariants of the P-40N ranged widely in specialization from stripped down four-gun "hot rods" that could reach the highest top speeds of any production variant of the P-40 (up to 380 mph), to overweight types with all the extras intended for fighter-bombing or even training missions. The 15,000th P-40 was an N model decorated with the markings of 28 nations that had employed any of Curtiss-Wright's various aircraft products, not just P-40s.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a RAAF Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Fighter nicknamed "Angry Bee", which was piloted by Lt. Ken Goldring, who was attached to No.80 Squadron during November 1944. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 6-inches
Length: 5-inches

Release Date: November 2017

Historical Account: "Strike True" - No. 80 squadron was reformed in March 1937 again as No. 80 Squadron, now equipped with Gloster Gauntlet aircraft. However, by now the Gauntlet was considered by many to be outdated, and as a result they were replaced by the Gloster Gladiator just two months later. In 1938, the squadron again returned to Egypt as an 'air defence unit'. After Italy's declaration of war on Libya, No. 80 was moved to the Egyptian-Libyan border but was one of the units sent to aid the Greeks during the Greco-Italian War, Initially flying Gladiators and then Re-equipping with the Hawker Hurricane from February 1941. The Squadron lost most of its Aircraft during the Greek and Crete actions and reformed at RAF Aqir in Palestine in May 1941. Before deploying Detachments to Nicosia in Cyprus and 'A' Flight to Haifa. The Squadron moved totally to Cyprus in July 1941, before returning to Syria the next month, and joining the fighting in North Africa two months later. During the Battle of El Alamein it was responsible for defending communications lines. It remained in that area until early 1944, when it returned to Britain to prepare for Operation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Europe). After the operation, the squadron was equipped with Hawker Tempest aircraft and took up anti-V-1 flying bomb duties. After this was no longer a threat, 80 Sqn moved on to the Continent and resumed fighter duties until the end of the war.