P-40 Warhawk

As a Grumman test pilot during WW II, Corky Meyer, was tasked with testing a number of other aircraft including the P-40. In this self-effacing story Corky tells us not only how the P-40 flew but how he, as a young test pilot, miraculously survived a spin that should have killed him.

In early 1942, Flight Officer Geoff Fisken was flying a Brewster Buffalo in desperate battles against the Japanese in Singapore. Wounded, he recuperated, then found himself once again in combat with the Japanese over Guadalcanal in his P-40, the Wairarapa Wild Cat.

The P-40 was in continual production and modification throughout the entire war, and Warren Bodie gives us a guide through the maze of models and variants, including those that never went into production but were intended to extend the airplane’s lifespan. From the first prototype to the XP-40Q, they are all there.

As one of the original AVG “”Flying Tiger”” pilots, Chuck Older had ample opportunity to test himself against the Japanese then ravaging China. In the process, he became the first AVG ace, a precursor of the 18 total kills he would rack up during his later service in the USAAF.

When Tom Anderson requested transfer from driving tanks to flight training, little did he know that in a few months he’d find himself low over the desert blasting tanks with swastikas on them. His experiences during low-level missions show what the P-40 could do, but at the same time, show that even a flying tank can meet its match.

When Tom Anderson requested transfer from driving tanks to flight training, little did he know that in a few months he’d find himself low over the desert blasting tanks with swastikas on them. His experiences during low-level missions show what the P-40 could do, but at the same time, show that even a flying tank can meet its match.

In the beginning, ace or not, every pilot was a hero. The smoke was still billowing over Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft darkened the Phillippine sky and attacked U.S. bases, including Clark Field, where Lt. William “”Jim”” Fossey was based. He was just taxiing his P-40B for takeoff when war came to the Phillipines and bombs rained down around him. Through his words, we find out what really happened during the first few days of WW II.