Curtiss P-40

A single-engine, single-seater of American manufacture, it was used by the Allies as a fighter or fighter-bomber in many of the theaters in which the Second World War was fought.

• The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was the third most produced fighter aircraft by the United States during the Second World War, after the P-51 and the P-47.

Produced by Curtiss-Wright of Buffalo, as a linear-engine version of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk, with a star engine, it was not an exceptional aircraft, mainly due to the engine, not very powerful at high altitude.

However, it was still built in large numbers, and its remarkable robustness, combined with its wide availability from the first months after the United States entered the war, made it one of the most important fighters for the American Air Force between 1941 and the summer of 1943.

The versions supplied to the US armed forces, USAAC and, later, USAAF, were known as:

• Hawk 81, up to the P-40E.

• Warhawk, from the P-40F onwards.

Those delivered to the Commonwealth countries, under Lend-Lease agreements were known as:

• Tomahawk, equivalent to the P-40A, B and C versions.

• Kittyhawk, equivalent to the P-40D and later versions.