Curtiss P-40 i aksjon – Skvadronsignal 26

Une dokumentasjon signée Skvadron Signal le livre «Curtiss P-40 i aksjon – Skvadron Signal 26» .

Få flydesign har hatt en så merkelig eller kompleks bakgrunn som P-40 serie. Faktisk lurer man på hvorfor Air Corps valgte å gi H-75P en annen betegnelse enn et dash-nummer i P-36-serien siden det i utgangspunktet var en re-engined P-36A. Spin-offs fra P-36-designet vil resultere ikke bare i P-40, men XP-37, XP-42, XP-46, XP-53, XP-60 og XP-62 pluss de som er gitt Y-betegnelser og forskjellige dash-tall.

Ignorerer Curtiss-hauken biplanes, the family tree of the P-40 would seem to have its tap roots in the XP-934 Curtiss Swift of 1932 vintage. Although some experience in the low-wing monoplane type was gained when the company produced its famed Shrike series of attack planes, the Swift, or XP-31 as it was designated by the Air Corps, was their first low-wing pursuit design. By one of those odd quirks, the Swift initially was powered by an in-line engine which gave way to a more powerful radial, just the reverse of the P-36 to P-40 design development. The XP-31 was not successful with either engine and the design was soon abandoned (It did earn the dubious distinction of being the last U.S. pursuit plane with a fixed landing gear). The Curtiss Company’s fortunes took a downward turn in the pursuit field when the Boeing P-26A was selected by the Air Corps over the XP-31.