By 1937, the G. M. Curtiss Manufacturing Company (later known as the Curtiss Engineering Company), had become world famous for designing and manufacturing a host of very famous airplanes. Most Curtiss aircraft were single-engine fighters but there were other very famous, and successful, Curtiss airplanes in addition to fighters.

But somehow, the Curtiss name was not always closely attached to these famous airplanes. Anyone with even the slightest interest in aviation has heard of the Jenny, right? Of course right. Who doesn’t know that the Jenny trained thousands of America’s WW I pilots and was just about the logo of American civil aviation in the 1920’s.

But the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny? Nope, we never heard of that one. Not only did Curtiss design the Jenny but they also designed and produced the OX-5 engine that powered it. But this famous airplane will always be known simply as the “Jenny” and few will understand that it was Curtiss that was responsible for it.

How about the famous Hawk series of fighters from the late 1920’s and 1930’s? The first Hawk flew in 1925 and various models served as frontline US Army fighters until the end of the biplane fighter era. The most famous is the specially decorated P-6E Hawk now being kitted by Hobbico (and soon to be reviewed in Sport Aviator). But the first Hawk was the Curtiss P-1 Hawk and the P-6E was also by Curtiss.

The same is true for the high-performance Commando cargo airplane, the Helldiver Navy bomber and the P-36 monoplane fighter. While those are the names everyone uses today, their true names were the Curtiss C-46 Commando, the Curtiss SBC Helldiver and the Curtiss P-36/Hawk 75 monoplane fighter series.
The real problem was that Curtiss was better at making up airplane names then they were at public relations. Their names were so good that everyone used them and left out the “Curtiss” part. Probably the most famous example of this is the contest aircraft, the P-40. This airplane, the one that stood between America and both Germany and Japan in the first year of the war, has gone by several popular names. Known as the “Tomahawk”, the “Flying Tiger” or just the “P-40”, the airplane was actually Curtiss P-40 Hawk 81A.

This versatile airframe actually started life as a modification of the P-36 Hawk (photo 2). The very first version was very strange looking, having the cockpit located far to the rear and using an Army-developed supercharged Allison engine (photo 3). Called the YP-37, the 13 prototypes experienced mechanical problems and never went into production. But Curtiss modified one of their own P-36’s into the Hawk 75R and kept at it until they solved the technical problems.

Both Allison-powered versions could reach 330 mph at 20,000 feet and climbed at about 3,000 ft./minute. Those were impressive numbers for 1935! By comparison, the best P-36 could reach 310 mph but at only 10,000 feet. The climb rate above 10,000 feet was just around 2,000 ft./minute.

After 2 years of development, the Allison-powered P-37 was ready for testing in 1937. Curtiss took the 10th production P-36A, added the water-cooled Allison and gave it to the Army for testing. The Army took their time with the tests; after all, they hadn’t ordered it. But the new airplane’s, by then it was known as the P-40, top speed of 345 mph at 15,000 ft. and a climb rate around 3,000 ft./minute was too good to ignore. Even better, the airplane handled better than the P-36 and provided the more stable “gun platform” needed to hit a target. Remember, there were no computer-guided missiles then; the pilot aimed the airplane at the target while firing machine guns. If the airplane moved while firing or had an elevator that was too sensitive in turns, it was nearly impossible to hit anything. The P-40 was excellent in this regard.

The first order for 524 P-40’s was placed on April 27, 1939. The first production P-40 was delivered on April 4, 1940. This allowed Curtiss and the Army just 19 months to make them all, to train the pilots, to ship them to overseas bases and to get their supply train organized before America went to war on two fronts. This is not much time, but they did enough. The P-40 was on hand to help slow, and then halt, the Japanese expansion to Australia and New Guinea. British P-40’s, known as Tomahawk I’s, served in North Africa and helped stop Rommel’s famed Afrika Corps.

P-40’s defended Port Moresby from the Japanese Army Air Force, defeating the famous Zero using tactics developed by the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in China. And of course, 100 P-40’s operated by the AVG defended Southern China during the period just after, yes after and not before despite the John Wayne movie, Pearl Harbor to mid-June 1942 when the Army Air Corps was able to move into the area, again with P-40’s.

The Curtiss P-40, let’s not forget its real name, served on every single battlefront in WW-II. 13,738 P-40’s were built in versions up to the most numerous, the “N” model. Production ceased in December, 1944. But by then, the P-40 had done its job. It had held the line against more advanced fighters, kept its pilots alive and on even fighting terms with their enemies. Like the Navy’s Grumman F-4F Wildcat in the Pacific, the P-40, and the pilots who flew them, outperformed its designer’s best hopes and gave America the time we needed to become truly ready for a World War.

The airplane in the contest photo actually is the 20th P-40 ever built. Along with one other, it was sent from the factory to Wright Patterson Field for testing. At Wright-Pat, the aircraft was assigned to the Army’s Material Division. All aircraft under test at Wright-Pat carried the “MD” but most also had the yellow and black Wright-Patterson insignia on the fuselage. For some reason, the contest photo airplane had only the “MD” marking.
If you can, remember that it was the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk when you talk about this airplane
As for the clues:
The Apache was the early model of the P-51 Mustang and had the radiator mounted in a large belly scoop behind the wing. – The contest photo airplane’s radiator scoop is very much in front of the wing. In fact, it is just under the nose and right behind the propeller.

An "MD" on the vertical fin indicates an airplane being tested at Wright Field before WW II. – The black MD on the tail might be hard to see, but it is definitely there as is the number 20 for the 20th P-40 built.

Most Spitfires in US service were the Mk V version although some Mk IX models saw limited US service. But the Mk IX Spitfire still had the elliptical wingtips and does that look like the North African desert below? – There is a lot of green on the ground for this airplane to be flying over a desert which is the only battlefront where US operated Spitfires flew. Still, an American Mark IX Spitfire could have been photographed flying over a large Oasis. But the famous Spitfire elliptical wings are obviously missing on the contest photo aircraft.

No one would spend near a million dollars to restore a famous German fighter like the Bf-109 and then put it in US markings! – Restoring WW II fighters today usually does cost about a million dollars, or more. Most people and organizations willing to spend that kind of money usually do it for love of the aircraft in particular or of aviation in general. Either motivation would almost outlaw painting a restored airplane in a color scheme not actually used by that airplane. The US Army did not operate a Bf – 109 (also called Me-109) in regular service. The few captured ones were painted bright red during the war and restored to German markings in museums afterwards.

Back to NTP Aviation History