History

Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.IIA was the British name given to Curtiss P-40B. They were slightly improved version of the original P-40 with improved armament and armour and began entering service in 1941.

The Tomahawk was not considered suitable for combat in European theatres as it had been optimised for combat below 15,000 feet whereas combat was most often at up to 30,000 ft over Britain.

In North Africa most combat was at lower altitudes so Tomahawks were fairly well matched against the German and Italian fighters they fought against there.

Britain purchases 110 of these aircraft. Twenty four of them were transferred to the Soviet Union and most of the rest were sent to North Africa, replacing Hawker Hurricanes.

Eventually, 27 Squadrons were equipped with Tomahawks which were replaced by later model P40s, Curtiss Kittyhawks, from 1942.

This model represents a Tomahawk IIA of 400 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force at Odiham, England in 1941.

Airfix 1/72 kit completed by Steve Pulbrook in 2019.

Data

MODEL: Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.IIA (SP-S, 400 Sqd, RCAF, 1943)

ROLE: single seat fighter

TIME PERIOD: 1041-1940s

ENGINES: one Allison V-170-33 V-12 Liquid cooled piston engine, 780 kW

WING SPAN: 11.36

LENGTH: 9.66m

MAXIMUM TAKE OFF WEIGHT: 3,862kG

MAXIMUM SPEED: 538km/h

RANGE: 1,150 km

CREW: 1

ARMAMENT: six .303 machine guns

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

GALLERIES:

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