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JeffK said:Someone mentioned the RAAF trials between the P40E SpitfireVc, comments included the fact the Spits paint job was rough, and took some sped off, the bloody Vokes filter handicapped the Spit and the Spit used was from 1 OTU where the trainee pilots burned the stuffings out of the engine.
Back on topic.....
"In Italy the 325 Fighter Group, commonly know as "The Checker-Tailed Clan" amassed one of the best kill to loss ratios of any fighter group in the European Theater. With a yellow and black checkerboard adorning the tail of their P-40s (and later P-47s and P-51s), they flew many sorties against more numerous German forces, and won most of the time. In 1943 the 325th won two major engagements. On July 1, 22 checker-tailed P-40s were making a fighter sweep over southern Italy when they were jumped by 40 Bf-109s. After an intense air battle, the result was half of the German aircraft shot down for the loss of a single P-40. There was a similar situation on the 30th of July, again over Italy, when 35 Bf-109s ambushed 20 P-40s. On this occasion, 21 German fighters were shot down, again for the loss of a single P-40. Because the pilots of the 325th were trained to maximize the P-40's strengths and minimize its weaknesses, it became a lethal opponent for the German fighters. The final record of "The Checker-Tailed Clan's" P-40s was 135 Axis planes shot down (96 were Bf-109s), for only 17 P-40s lost in combat"
The Hurricane I could outclimb and out turn the P-40, but the P40 was faster under 25k or so, IIRC and could out dive the HH.
The Hurricane II could outclimb and out turn the P40 and was faster above 20k or so, and had a much higher ceiling. The HHII could serve as a high altitude interceptor but the P-40 would have been less successful in this role.
Pretty much true - except the comparison re: high altitude performance nearly irrelevant as the dominant envelope for both was zero (plus 10) to 15,000 feet.
Over the UK 20,000ft was pretty common and over the SWP/Darwin the P40 was often forced to climb above it's comfort zone.
the Tomahawk having an Allison engine and the Kittyhawk having a Merlin engine in a lengthened fuselage
The British apparently preferred the P-40 in the desert, though this may have had something to do with availability
But IIRC did anyway fairly well.
Juha
HyperWar: The Army Air Forces in WWII: Vol. IV--The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan [Chapter 1]First priority naturally went to the defense of Allied bases, a burden which fell upon the fighter units at Moresby and Darwin. Over both points the enemy bombers usually came in at 22,000 feet and above, too high for satisfactory interception by P-40's, P-39's, or P-400's, the only fighters available to the AAF in the Southwest Pacific, and their limitations seriously affected Allied operations.64 During July the P-39 had made contact with enemy bombers only four times in a series of nine raids despite a thirty-minute warning; in sixteen actual contacts it never once enjoyed an altitude advantage and the Zero invariably could outclimb and outmaneuver this fighter, which suffered the additional disadvantage of increased vulnerability because of the location of its motor behind the pilot. The P-40 was somewhat better, but it, too, was outperformed by the more nimble enemy fighters, particularly at high altitudes. Inferior performance of their planes lowered the morale of the pilots.65 It was true that the Allied planes were more rugged and less inflammable, they could outdive the Zero, and if given warning to permit them to reach sufficient altitude they could achieve creditable scores, as they did on 30 July over Darwin when twenty-seven P-40's shot down six Zeros and two bombers at the cost of one P-40.66 But pilots continued to be frustrated, as on 17 August, when for the seventy-eighth time enemy bombers struck Moresby in an attempt to disable their favorite target, Seven-Mile Airdrome. Although defending fighters had received adequate warning, they were unable to intercept.67
Actually, both the Kittyhawk and Tomahawk had Allison V-1710 engines. The only P-40s with Merlins (Packard V-1650-1s) were the P-40F and L models; the RAF did not operate either variant.
I think it was the Kittyhawk mk2 (p40f) that had Merlin engines and was used by either the RAF, RAAF or SAAF.
...1 to N. Zealand.