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Old 13th August 2020, 15:07
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Buckeye30 Buckeye30 is offline
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Re: P-40 C service history of one a/c

I think I agree with Stig's "hoax"; a comment on "Curtiss aircraft 1917-1948" by 2 respected authors Dean and Hagedorn on the P-40 twin.
.....were unable to uncover any info on the "Twin P-40" beyond the single photo, and state their opinion that it was a hoax, created for unknown reasons , from a short-tail H87 fuselage, P-40D canopy and P-40F cowlings, one of which features a sharkmouth. They also agree that the serial is spurious. The book has a much larger and clearer reproduction of the photo than the Putnam book and you can clearly see how crudely it is put together. The when and where it was built are both unknown.
The serial 41-13456 can't be right as the rounded rear canopy glazing is P-40D / E style so this isn't a C; maybe they just picked "3456".
The photo of 456 in Iceland must be after May 1942 as it has the revised star insignia ( no red centre). Also the Hudson next to it also has the new RAF cocarde , post May. The sharkmouth is on the right side of the starboard nacelle.
If 456 had an accident on August 1 1941 it couldn't have loaded on WASP on 24 July 1941.


Nick

Last edited by Buckeye30; 13th August 2020 at 16:51.
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