It is an old adage that one goes to war with the weapons one has and such was the case of the P-40. Though there were better aircraft in the pipeline, they were not ready for prime time and would not be for several years. So it fell on what the USAAC had on hand to fight WWII and when it came to fighters that meant obsolete P-26s, obsolescent P-36s and more modern P-39s and P-40s.

Curtiss had built up an enviable record of supplying the US Army with fighters with its very successful Hawk biplane series and had a firm hold on things. It was only be chance that the P-35 won a late 1930s order as the competing P-36 wasn't ready. For the next year's order, the P-36 was ready and was ordered in fairly large (for the late 1930s) numbers. It was also ordered by the French in considerable numbers to be ready for the Luftwaffe in WWII. The British also ordered P-36 versions and while not quite up to being able to handle the Germans, was very useful against the Japanese in India, but that is another story. Other nations also bought P-36 (Hawk 75) variants.

Fortunately, the P-36 was designed with stretch and the best way to improve performance in an airplane is with more engine power and streamlining. Thus was born the P-40 (Hawk 81) which used most of the P-36 airframe with a more powerful Alison liquid cooled engine. It is this version of the P-40 that saw the first considerable action involving this Curtiss fighter.

A few things about this early P-40 (called Tomahawk) by the British). It was most effective at lower altitude thanks to no really good supercharging being available. It was fairly maneuverable, but its real strength was in its ability to dive and absorb punishment. Those pilots successful with the aircraft used hit and run tactics as a dog-fight was usually unsuccessful. The British used the airplane with success in North Africa, it was also able to get some Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor, but the most famous of the type was with the AVG or the Flying Tigers. They were faced with Ki-27 and Ki-43 aircraft, both more maneuverable than the P-40, but both slower as well.

This book covers the background history and development of the early P-40 as well as its combat use in the early years of the war (basically 1941 and 1942). The author calls them 'long nose Tomahawks' (which is a bit redundant as all the 'long nose' planes are Tomahawks), but that is the first time I have ever heard these planes called 'long nose' P-40s. Most of us who are knowledgeable in the aircraft just call them P-40B/C or Tomahawks. With the coming of the improved P-40D/E and later versions, the name changed to Warhawk.

Anyway, the story is quite well told and the book is full of some great period photographs as well as some very well done art work. A full 18 of the 64 pages are devoted to specifications of every variant from the Hawk 75 prototype to the Tomahawk IIB.  In all it is a well written book and one that every enthusiast of the P-40 will enjoy.

June 2013

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