NZFF

Today, like other users, I'm starting to rummage around in the "private" archive. I have to tidy up and save some memories this way. These pictures were taken for one of the last reviews for the German "FS-Magazine" Für the illustration of an article uses images 3, 4 images. This results in 50-100 images. In this fundus I will search around a bit and see if there are things that are of interest. The Curtiss P-40 does not need to be explained to interested users of flight simulations. It was never a really good fighter. Its greatest advantage was that it was "available" when it was needed and just as the US had more capable aircraft available, these were passed on to allies.

The P40 not being any good story is a myth. The RAAF and RNZAF used their P40s with great success against the Japanese. It was difficult to turn with a Zero but it could be done and the P40 could sure outdive the Zero. It was also a very rugged aeroplane. Nice pics

We have reports about this aircraft from North Africa. She was natural fodder for the I/JG 27 with Messerschmitt Bf 109E and F and the Macchi MC 202 Folgore of the Regia Aeronautica. Even with an old aircraft like the Fiat G. 50 it was not hopeless to fight against an P-40B or E. It depends on the scene. Her strength and nosedive were her good points. The rest was rather mau. There are also Russian sources, where the pilots received machines from English stocks. They weren't enthusiastic there either, and comparison flights with the Jak 1 and the MiG 3 didn't go so well either. Of course, it was a very good replacement for the Polikarpov I-16. But that was not the benchmark in 1941. The sticking point was the Allison V 1710, which was worse than the Klimov WK 105 and ran significantly worse at altitudes of over 4000 meters (!).
The Russian climate in the far north like at Murmansk killed these engines. The Soviets called it a time bomb. One of the well-known aces of the first months of the war died in a P40E due to engine failure, and word got around. Boris Safonov.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Safonov

Great post , I always enjoy your research and screenshots

If you collect models, some information will come out over the years. At the moment, however, I don't want to use my left hand when building models and sometimes also in simulation. That sucks if you're left-handed. Today, more enemies escape me in Il 2 than before.

hasegawa wrote:It was never a really good fighter.

Claire Chennault (and his crew) and Neville Duke seemed to do okay with them, if we're just talking the "long nose" model.

Ask this Hans Jochen Marseille and other Pilots of I/JG 27...

Good enought, good or outstanding, is a question of other available aircraft in the theater. If you have flown a Gloster Gladiator or something like this in North Africa only months before or a Polikarpow I-153 in the USSR this was a great aircraft.