Pls help identify P-40 Warhawk pics

[Lagarto]

Are these machines of 33th FG onboard USS Chenango in Nov 1942, or is it 325th FG onboard USS Ranger in Jan 1943? Or maybe some belong to one Group, while others to the other Group?

E.R. McDowell in his "Checkertails", published by Squadron, captions them all as 325th FG, while C. Molesworth in his "Warhawk aces" by Osprey identifies the first photo as of 33th FG.

[Skyraider3D]

The "Curtiss P-40" MBI book captions the bottom photo as: A P-40F-20 of the 33th Fighter Group takes off from the deck of USS Chanago, 8th November 1942. The aircraft landed near Casablanca (M. Baloús Collection)

The same book shows another photo of a P-40 taking off from the USS Ranger on 19 July. This machine has a totally different camouflage, namely solid desert pink. A colour profile illustration on the next page describes this machine as belonging to the 57th FG.

I hope this helps

[BlackWolf3945]

Hiya Lagarto,

The third photo you posted shows P-40Fs and Ls of the 325th FG launching from Ranger on January 19th, 1943. Ranger was a full size carrier and there was enough room for the P-40s to take off under their own power.

The 33rd FG's P-40s were launched from Chenango, which was an escort carrier and which had little room on deck, as can be seen in this photo:

USS Chenango


Thus the 33rd's aircraft were launched by catapult after suitable modifications. In this photo you can see a 33rd FG P-40F hooked up to the catapult. Notice the cable attached to the main gear up front and the linkage attached to the tailwheel strut. This linkage helped keep the aircraft straight.

P-40F Hooked Up


The first photo you posted shows 33rd FG Hawks flying off the USS Chenango on either the 10th or 11th of November. Here is another photo taken earlier in the same sequence:

33rd FG Launching

You can see the detached catapult cable clearly in this shot.


The second photo you posted is probably also a 33rd FG Hawk, as it is hooked up to a catapult and has a serial number that is consistent with other serials on 33rd FG P-40s at the time.


Fade to Black...

[JACK COOK]

The "Linkage" attrached to the tailwheel is actually called the "holdback" it's sole purpose is hold the aircraft back has the pilot runs up full power and releases the brakes prior to the catapult firing. Actually the use of the catapult itself don't necessarly mean it's an escort carrier has many P-40 made deck runs off CVE's. The first that comes to mind is the 44th FS P-40Fs that deck launched off the USS Nassau in Nov 1942 to Efate.

[BlackWolf3945]

Originally Posted by JACK COOK

The "Linkage" attrached to the tailwheel is actually called the "holdback" it's sole purpose is hold the aircraft back has the pilot runs up full power and releases the brakes prior to the catapult firing.

Did not know this and I stand corrected. Thanks... I guess a Navy man would know these things, eh!

Actually the use of the catapult itself don't necessarly mean it's an escort carrier (h)as many P-40 made deck runs off CVE's.

I'm aware of this, but perhaps you misread what I said.

I didn't mean that the catapult launching of these aircraft, in and of itself, indicated that it was an escort carrier. I simply stated that there was very little room on the Chenango's deck and therefore the catapult was used.

ie: My intention was to illustrate that this is one way to tell the difference between the two operations in question. The Hawks launched from Ranger all went off under their own power. The Hawks launched from Chenango, or at least half of them in all probability, were launched by catapult.


Fade to Black...

[Lagarto]

Very interesting info, thank you!

[Gary wayne]

I realize a lot of time has past since the orginal posting. The first picture is of the 33rd FG taking off from the Chenango as it was off of Casablanca on November 10th, 1942. This is most likely a plane from the 60th FS since they were the first off of the carrier. They landed at Port Lyautey. The take offs were halted due to damaged runways and resumed the next day. The second picture is of one of the practice take offs while still in the states. This would be on October 15th, 1942. You can see the yellow surrounds have not yet been painted on the national ensignia. I got this from (then Lt.) Charles Duncan's diary which he has been kind enough to send me a copy of. He was Squadron CO of the 60th FS at that time. The last shot is a plane from the 325th FG taking off from the Ranger on January 19th, 1943.