The initial version of the Curtiss P-40, designated by the manufacturer as the Hawk H-81, combined the established airframe of the earlier radial-powered H-75 (P-36) fighter with the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engine. The year was 1939, and the marriage was one of expediency. With the threat of war in Europe growing by the day, the US Army Air Corps brass wanted a modern fighter that would combine the sterling handling qualities of the P-36 with a boost in performance that would make it competitive with the new types emerging in Germany and England, and the generals wanted the new plane immediately. The P-40 delivered admirably, and though it never reached the performance levels of the Bf 109 or Spitfire, the sturdy fighter nevertheless made a place in history for itself as the Army's frontline fighter when the US entered World War II. Long-nosed P-40s initially saw combat in North Africa, flying in Royal Air Force squadrons. They also fought in the skies over Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. But the long-nosed P-40 is best known as the shark-faced fighter flown by the American Volunteer Group - the legendary "Flying Tigers" - over Burma and China during 1941-42.

Author Biography

Carl Molesworth, a resident of Mount Vernon, Washington, USA, is a former newspaper and magazine editor now working as a publicist and freelance writer. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a BA in English, Carl served as an enlisted man in the United States Air Force, 1968-72. He has been researching and writing about fighter operations in World War II for more than 30 years. His eleven previous titles include three books in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series, three in the Elite Units series and two in the Duel series. Richard Chasemore finished a four-year course in technical illustration in 1992. Since then he has worked on a huge variety of projects in publishing and advertising, using both traditional and digital media. He has run an airbrush course in St Louis, Missouri, and also written six educational books on digital art. He has spent 10 years working on the best-selling Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections series, which has taken him to Skywalker Ranch in California to work with the Lucasfilm concept artists. He also enjoys music and is a co-founder of Superglider Records.