P-40 vs. Zero

Among the circumstances driving Mustang development was the fact that Merlins were not about to be shipped to the U.S., and reasonably so. Until Packard was able to ram up Merlin production the challenge was a mission for a medium altitude, long range plane. Reconnaissance and the A-36 were stop gap missions. During the Merlin ram up the bomber generals realized that unescorted, daylight bombing had rather sever drawbacks. And so the Mustang found its calling.

Greg Boeser said:

In 1939, the only fighters that had armor installed were Soviet I-16s. Armor began being installed in most western fighters in 1940.

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I am not sure about that. I think the trend was already in place before that and it accelerated at about that time. For example, the P-26 Peashooter had pilot protection armor from the first production item on (1933). The P-40 was envisioned from the start to have some armor behind the pilot, although they were definitely up armored later in the series.

T!

Col. Sir Harry Flashman said:

One of the first things Gen. George's F.E.A.F. pilots did after the initial attack by the I.J. Air Forces, was to lighten their P-40's by removing the O2 systems (they couldn't get to the altitude of the Betty's & the Oscars always came down to play), the Radio Gear (the radio towers were all destroyed during the 1st air raid, so no comm at all including advanced air raid warnings via radio), 2 of the 6 .50's in the E's (Oscar's flamed nicely w/ just 4 .50's) & used bare minimum Armour for the protection of the pilots.

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I respectful disagree with your references to F.E.A.F and it's P-40s. I have been a student the AAF in the Philippines for almost 50 years and I have never read from any source any mention of the modifications to P-40s that you have described. Aside from the inaccuracies, the need for them would have become superfluous by the end of the first week of the war when aerial combat, especially interception attempts, virtually ended. As noted, the Ki-43 Oscar was a JAAF aircraft and did not see action in the PI. All JAAF fighters were Ki-27s. Several pilots, notably George Kiser, a former 17th Pursuit Squadron pilot, did remove 2 guns from his P-40 while flying out of Australia with the 49th Pursuit(later Fighter) Group. Aside from the removal of 2 guns, no other weight saving measures were taken or anticipated in Java or Australia. The idea of removing armor would have be abhorrent to pilots who were well aware of its value since the beginning of the war.