Boy .. this thread looks encouraging! I did not realize there so many other people love the P-40 as much as me!
I Flew F-4 Phantoms in the USAF for 10 years... I always considered this the P-40 of the jet age because it was still pretty potent if flown properly...
Anyway.. I digress..
If we are talking a major re-work of the P-40 series in IL2... lets make sure an opening canopy is included in the new models... Not that I have any idea as to what has to be done, or how difficult it is..
Having "encouraged" you by answering positively to your question, it's only fair to let you know that I'm heading overseas tomorrow & have no guarantee of a good net connection for some time.
However, have laptop will travel, so works I'm involved with should progress to some degree.
Your certainly not alone with regard to the P-40. I was horrified by the external visual model from the start. The most obvious being the well out of whack main wing dihedral, but the more you look the more you see.
Every effort will be made to make them at least as good as the better represented models which shipped with Pacific Fighters.
I manage to remember the models by character, the P-40D the first major reworking of the new airframe, armed with four fifties, the P-40E a six gun version. The F had what I think was basically a Merlin 45 made by Packard but with those P-36 roots (except for flush riveting) it was even less efficient in the airflow than a Spitfire and soon featured a lengthened tail (torque counter), so was only a marginally better performer than the Allison version and about the same as later Allison versions. The K was a lightened "high performance" variant back to four guns and less fuel capacity, but not in the same league as most contemporaries. The M was a good plane but a bit outdated. The N nobody can figure out, it had a starring role in the Truman commitee hearings on defence expenditure. It was of course the best so far and would have made an okay plane for the end of 1942 only it was being delivered in huge numbers in 1944.
The best example of the P-40's obsolescence is the fact the P-51 was ultimately its redesign at the hands of Phil Schmood from North American Aviation. But it is a classic warbird, possibly the most recognisable airframe of them all (where the most recognised name is the Spitfire and the two are often, at least in Australia where we used far more Kittyhawks than Spitfires, confused).
In terms of historical significance I think the K model and N model are most important for inclusion to the modded Il2, personally. The K was used widely by US forces in North Africa late 1942 and the N model by Commonwealth and US forces in the Pacific late 1943 (primarily in ground attack 1944).
At the start of the Pacific war some Kittyhawk II (P-40F) were mixed in with Mark I and IA (P-40D and E) among Commonwealth forces. The impression I have is locally Allison engines were preferred for availability of spares and ease of maintenance, and that not much local distinction is made between D, E and F models and in fact even the K model, aside from noting the obvious detail changes. Short tail Allison engine, short tail Merlin engine, long tail Merlin engine and so on. But the K model had a place of distinction among Americans for its use during Torch, though there is a bit of question as to whether its advertising campaign as a "lightweight, high performance variant" was more wishful thinking than reality. Spitfires were swapped in at any opportunity, which handled the brunt of fighter air combat during the later stages of North Africa whilst Warhawks attacked mostly air transports and ground targets. It has been stated simply that the P-40 was 'unsuitable for aerial combat in Europe by 1943.'
The P-40M given in Il2 is perfect for the Eastern Front, being primarily the model exported under the lend lease program whilst other, newer types were reaching full production capacity for US front line use. Hence all these factors led to the Truman commitee hearings, according to what I've read.
Whether infamous or immortal, the P-40 series is definitely an important warbird. It'll be nice to see it given the kind of attention the real thing managed to gain, for better or worse. I quite like flying the couple we've got in the sim.
Sorry vanir, but P-51 was not a P-40 redesign.The two planes have nothing in common,and if they had some similarities these were dictated by the use of the same engine, the Allison V-1710.It has been argued that it was a redesign of the P-46, the intended successor of the P-40, which might have some true to my opinion, but North America was always denied this.
The lightweight model that I know was the P-40L with a merlin engine, and it was comparable in performance with Spit mk5s, apart from the rare of climb.P-40Ks that were used in Torch were no more lightweight than P-40Es, they had a more powerful engine than -Es, but with the same low-alt emphasis.
P-39s had priority to go to the eastern front, not P-40s.And the reasons tha P-40s stayed in production until the fall of 1944 are well documented and clear: Low cost coupled with proven quality & general reliability + successful combat result in USAAF hands.The highlight of successful P-40 combat record came on January 16, 1944 when 16 P-40Ns of 8th FG in saidor, New Guinea, were attacked by approx. 40 A6Ms and Ki-61s and the result was that 19 A6Ms and Ki-61s were shot down with just two losses of P-40s.So P-40 was not as bad as you want to think to.
Could I also get please the Sky Captain P40 with underwater capibility ????...................PLEAAAASSSEEEEEE.......................Man I love that movie :twisted:
But its not out to download.....or do I wrong ?
You do wrong. It was uploaded nearly four months ago. :wink:
viewtopic.php?t=7562&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
Later I hope to see a definitive fix to the P-40's though.
Damn !
How could I oversee this !
