Author: Carl Molesworth
Illustrators: Richard Chasemore and Adam Tooby (the latter of Airfix box-art fame!)
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Soft Back, 64 pages, Air Vanguard Series
ISBN: 9781780969091
Price around £11.99 GBP
Review by Geoff Coughlin (June 2013)
Our thanks to Osprey Publishing for supplying our review link. Get this reference book here now at: www.ospreypublishing.com
Introduction
The Air Vanguard series may be known to you as it is building nicely covering many and varied types from the WWI Albatros D.I/II to the Hawker Hurricane. Format is similar too with useful and informative text together with high quality colour profiles, period black and white photos.
The initial version of the Curtiss P-40, designated by the manufacturer as the Hawk H-81, combined the established airframe of the earlier radial-powered H-75 (P-36) fighter with the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engine. The year was 1939, and the marriage was one of expediency. With the threat of war in Europe growing by the day, the US Army Air Corps brass wanted a modern fighter that would combine the sterling handling qualities of the P-36 with a boost in performance that would make it competitive with the new types emerging in Germany and England, and the generals wanted the new plane immediately. The P-40 delivered admirably, and though it never reached the performance levels of the Bf 109 or Spitfire, the sturdy fighter nevertheless made a place in history for itself as the Army’s frontline fighter when the US entered World War II. Long-nosed P-40s initially saw combat in North Africa, flying in Royal Air Force squadrons. They also fought in the skies over Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. But the long-nosed P-40 is best known as the shark-faced fighter flown by the American Volunteer Group – the legendary Flying Tigers – over Burma and China during 1941–42.
Contents
- Introduction
- Design and Development
- Technical Specifications and Variants
- Operational History
- Conclusion
- Bibliography and Further Reading
With several kits of the Tomahawk available at the time of writing this title offers plenty to scale modellers and is recommended. It’s not the last word on the Tomahawk, nor is it intended to be so but an excellent intro to the variations of the type.
Geoff C.