How was the Japanese evaluation of the P-40?

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

J

Jenisch

Staff Sergeant
1,080
17
Oct 31, 2011
I know the Japanese captured P-40's, and even had the aircraft operational in combat service. However I was wondering what was their conclusion in regard to the aircraft compared to the Zero and the Ki-43. Anyone has information about this?
 
Sergeant Yoshito Yasuda (64th Sentai):
The Hurricane was a unique plane with twelve 7.7mm machine guns which caused deadly damage if we were shot from behind. Its diving speed was much faster than the 01 Fighter. Therefore, when we fought with Hurricanes we attempted to counter its firepower with the better manoeuvrability of the 01 and tried to hit its radiator, bringing the engine to a stop. Even with the poor firepower of the 01, Hurricanes could be shot down merely by a hole in the radiator.
 
Jenisch said:
I know the Japanese captured P-40's, and even had the aircraft operational in combat service. However I was wondering what was their conclusion in regard to the aircraft compared to the Zero and the Ki-43. Anyone has information about this?
Click to expand...

I may be in the minority, but I believe that Japanese use of captured P-40s for combat operations is a myth.
 
varsity07840 said:
I may be in the minority, but I believe that Japanese use of captured P-40s for combat operations is a myth.
Click to expand...
There are Japanese records that do confirm for a short while, captured P-40s were used in the far east.

A quote from Japanese aviation historian, Osamu Tagaya:
"In total, the Japanese appear to have had as many as ten flyable P-40Es. For a brief period, during 1943, a few of them were actually used operationally by the 50th Hiko Sentai in the defense of Rangoon. Testimony to this fact is given by Yasuhiko Kuroe (64th Hiko Sentai) in his memoirs, in which he says one Japanese Warhawk shot down a friendly 'Sally' over Rangoon by mistake!"

There are other bits of information that confirm this, like from the RAF Public File Records - FileAir 40/2172 had a translation of a captured diary of a mechanic assigned to the 12th Sentai. The diary recorded the following entry for March 11, 1943, when the mechanic was at Alor Star in Malaya:
"At noon a formation of 3 P-40s flew over and landed. They are being moved by air as part of a new chutai [shotai ?] which is beingformed to take part in the Burma operations. The 50th Hikosentai mark was on them."
 
The Japanese using captured planes operationally gives you an idea of their shortages, as early as 1943. Interesting
 
"...gives you an idea of their shortages"

No big deal here, really, everybody uses everybody else's stuff when push comes to shove. T-34s crewed by Germans at Kursk. Churchill flying in a Storch.
 
michaelmaltby said:
"...gives you an idea of their shortages"

No big deal here, really, everybody uses everybody else's stuff when push comes to shove. T-34s crewed by Germans at Kursk. Churchill flying in a Storch.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

The P-40 was rugged and capable and the Japanese had them in numbers, so why not?

The Germans used captured foreign aircraft for various purposes like the French built NA-64 in a trainer capacity. They used the Czech Avia B-534 as a trainer at their A/B Schule and Jagdfleigerschule. There was also the Moraine-Saulnier MS.406 that was pressed into service as a trainer that served alongside the older Bf109 types which had been retired from front line service. Then there was the Gloster Gladiator Mk.1 captured from the Latvians at the start of the war which served with the Luftwaffe as a target tug nearly until war's end.

As far as foreign types used by the Luftwaffe in combat, the Dewoitine D.520C was actually used by JG101 (Nancy - France), JG103 (Zeltweg - Austria) and JG105 (Le Bourget/Chartres - France). Some were still in service as late as 1944 with JG103 which was in Brussels by that time.

Not surprising, the Germans also had several Italian types in use after the Italians surrendered in 1943. Of those, only the MC.205 was used in combat
 
.... only the Americans didn't follow this trend .... but they had the British as allies and they adopted their stuff and considered it foreign ...
 
There was a Japanese language book about captured Allied aircraft which appeared to have some details on the Buffalo's performance. Details of captured Allied aircraft were also published in Japanese aviation magazines during WWII. Alas, I've been unable to translate either source effectively.
 
An don't forget the 100+ Fokker G.1's that flew in German service.
 

I have remembered that in Jiro Horikoshi's Eagles of Mitubishi book about the development of the Zero (translated into English by the way), he mentions the P-40 as an outdated design he didn't worry much about. According to Horikoshi, the Zero had about the same speed as the P-40, and only outclassed it in a dive. This surprised me, because as far as I know the 1941 P-40E was already quite faster in level flight than the Zero.

BTW: given the comments Horikoshi made about the P-40 (and the P-36 also), could the Japanese have already know technical informations of the P-40 and other aircraft by obtaining performance data from manufactures in regard to export models? By the early 1940s, due to deteriorating relations with the West, I think perhaps the Japanese not be able to obtain this information directly by themselves, but could they have used another country to obtain them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

How good a plane was the P-40, really?
23 24 25
Replies
493
Views
39K
Think Tanker
Paper comparing the flight performance of the P-40E Warhawk and the A6M2 Zero
Replies
8
Views
861
Ivan1GFP
I
A
Was the Hispano-Suiza 12Y the worst ≥25L V-12 of WW2?
2 3
Replies
46
Views
3K
ThomasP
T
F
Just how good was the Mitsubishi F1M 'Pete'
Replies
12
Views
2K
cammerjeff
Effectiveness of the P-38
6 7 8
Replies
145
Views
12K
Thumpalumpacus
Menu
Log in
Register