Curtiss P-40E This Curtiss P-40 was a workhorse fighter of World War II. It did not have the elite performance of fighters like the P-51 or Fw190 but in played an important role in most theatres of war. Over 13,000 were manufactured and theyserved with all Allied air forces.

The Curtiss P-40E was a major revision of the earlier P-40 with improvements that included a redesigned nose with the radiator enlarged and moved forward and the air intake relocated, a revised cockpit canopy to improve the pilot’s vision and armament increased to six .50 calibre machine guns mounted in the wings.

Over 2,000 were manufactured for the United States Army Air Corps and British air forces including the Royal Australian Air Forces.

They served in all theatres of the war where it poor high altitiude performance was not a problem.

Their ability to carry bombs and the power of their six machine guns also made them a good ground attack aircraft.

This model represents the P-40E of 11 Squadron, 343th Fighter Group in the Aleutians in 1942.

Data: single-seat fighter. Engines one Allison V-1710-39 V-12 liquid-cooled piston of 920kW. Wing span 11.37m. Length 9.67m. Gross weight 83862kg. Maximum speed 538km/h. Range 1152km. Armament six 12.7mm machine guns and up to 910kg of underwing weapons. Crew 1.

Academy 1/72 kit completed by Steve Pulbrook in 2013.