P-40B/C Hawaii Early 1942 markings

[Relja]

Hello

For some time I'm trying to find more information on this profile of P-40B... first thing - it is genuine?

I hope I'm not braking any copyright rules, the source of the profile is 2001 issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling, Combat Colorus Number 4, Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942, by H C Bridgewater and Peter Scott

 

Anyway...

15th and 18th Pursuit groups were stationed in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

The profile is of P-40B, 18th Pursuit group, with the red-white stripes on the rudder, supposedly in January 1942.

These stripes were removed from USAAF fighters during 1941, but they were briefly re-introduced in 1942 in the Pacific in order to have the USAAF aircraft marked similarly to US Navy ones.

 

 

 

I have searched the Web, I have only found these images of 15th PG, dated early 1942.

The model is P-40E, which were sent to Hawaii to replace the bulk of the P-40B/Cs which were destroyed during Japanese attack.

 

 

 

 

My question is: is this marking scheme on the surviving Hawaii P-40B/C in January 1942 correct - rudder stripes in combination with the "red dot" national insignia on the fuselage?

I have one extra 1/72 P-40B in my stash, without decals, and this profile looks interesting...

[Dana Bell]

Hi Relja

 

Sorry to say, it's not legit for Pearl Harbor.  The camouflage swept up beneath the tail was only seen on P-40s and P-40Gs - neither of which was assigned to Hawaii.  The Bs and Cs sent to Hawaii arrived with camouflage, Insignia Blue (not black) "U. S. ARMY" beneath the wings, two wing insignia, two fuselage insignia, and no rudder stripes.  After 24 December 1941 Army and Navy aircraft stationed there added red and white (no blue) rudder stripes and two more wing insignia (usually, but not always, oversized).  Most of the aircraft carried large white 2- or 3-digit aircraft numbers on the fuselage.  The red dot and rudder stripes were overpainted beginning in May 1942.

 

Squirt shows most of these markings changes, but the wing blocks the position where the fuselage numbers would have appeared, so we don't know if they were present or not.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

Edited October 22, 2017 by Dana Bell

[Relja]

Hi Dana

Thank for your answer.

Yes, I'm aware of the errors on the profile regarding the swept upper color, black lettering for the "U.S. Army" and the blue vertical stripe... Those details did raise my suspicion on the entire depiction.

 

The part of the profile which is most intriguing for me is the combination of tail stripes and fuselage star insignia on P-40B (or "C") in early 1942, as they were on those photos of P-40E.

Intriguing, because I could not find any photo evidence. That is not surprising because it was a very short period of time, not many P-40B/C were left in Hawaii and they were being replaced with "E" model, and I can only imagine the whole atmosphere in the weeks following the attack, I doubt that taking unnecessary photos was a wise thing to do.... and of course, not everything is posted on the Internet.

However, someone drew this profile of this "P-40B" No. 55, I guess that he had some sort of reference...

[jimmaas]

It would not be the first time that a profile was created on very little information, or wrong information.  Or rank speculation, as followers of Sidney Chivers may know! 

 

With respect to 'Squirt', there may not have been any large white fuselage numbers.  The first photo, although not (evidently) of 'Squirt', was taken at Mokuleia Field in February 1942, according to http://www.airfields-freeman.com/HI/Airfields_HI_Oahu_N.htm (you'll have to scroll WAY down).  No numbers, unless there is a yellow number on the fin top.  I suspect that post-Pearl Harbor the large white numbers may have been considered kind of conspicuous (which is silly, since you are adding red-white stripes, but....)

[Gmat]

Two books by John Lambert would be very useful. The Pineapple Air Force and The Long Campaign: The History of the 15th Fighter Group in World War II. 

 

http://www.schifferbooks.com/the-pineapple-air-force-pearl-harbor-to-tokyo-3183.html

 

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Campaign-History-Fighter-Group/dp/0764324284/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

David Aiken who posts at Hyperscale has done much research on the aircraft at Pearl Harbor and if you can get a hold of him, you'll get lots of interesting nuggets of information.

 

From the Pineapple Air Force.

Regards P-40B '55'. Pineapple Air Force lists it as belonging to the 45th FS, 15th FG and a photo shows that it had the same rudder markings as the P-40E or P-40Ds you have shown. I believe that the stripe/stripes on the tail was a recognition marking. Squirt II had two stripes and still no numbers on the fuselage. 

P-40B, 78th FS, Kaneohe NAS, May 1942, has a single white(?) stripe behind the cockpit and white fuselage 75. The 75 is partially obscured.  Possibly a white bar upper fuselage before the tail. Nickname Melea na Momi in white on the right side of the nose. 

The P-40B lasted longer in Hawaii that might be expected. The 78th FS reverted to P-40Bs in 1943 for a short time until replaced with P-47D-2s. 

 

Grant

 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Gmat

[Relja]

Thank you very much, jimmass and Gmat.

Gmat, that's very useful information, I'll try to follow that ''lead".

[gingerbob]

Just as a point of interest, note that 'Squirt' has the shorter carb air intake, which makes it a very early P-40E.  As with the Mustang I, local turbulence caused some engine hiccups, so the intake was extended forward (and some, or more, gap to remove boundary layer added).

[Gmat]

The Hawaii State Government has a site with information on aviation in Hawaii.

 

Mokuleia AAF with another photo of the 72nd FS P-40Es.

http://aviation.hawaii.gov/aviation-photos/1940-1949/

 

Some nice aircraft photos but obviously made by someone not knowledgeable about aviation types nor aviation in Hawaii. Some of the more exotic types listed as being in Hawaii, the XB-7 and the B-32 were not taken nor stationed in Hawaii. Ditto the Keystone LB-7 Panther, the LWN Owl, the Salmson S.2 , (mislabeled HS-2L which did fly in Hawaii)  the Curtiss XB-2 Condor, the Martin GMB MB-1 with 37mm gun, the Witterman-Lewis XNBL-1 Barling Bomber, the Atlantic Fokker XLB-2, the Huff-Daland SLB-5 Pirate, the Boeing Y1B-9,  the Fokker XB-8, the shark nose B-18A, the B-23, the XB-15 and the XB-42 Mixmaster. The P-51B was probably not taken at Hickam. I don't think that the B model appeared in the Pacific save the CBI. I suspect someone googled Luke Field (Arizona) without realizing that Luke Field Hawaii was different and downloaded the pictures. One DH-4 photo is the two used in the early air to air refueling tests. Definitely not in Hawaii. 

Rant over, sorry.

 

Air Force colors Vol. 3 by Dana Bell has some info.

https://www.amazon.com/Air-Force-Colors-1942-1947-Specials/dp/0897473760

 

The 7th Air Force Story by Ken Rust has some more info. Long out of print and hard to find.

 

Grant

[Romel]

good info