- Yes
- No
Greetings. I’d like to introduce and suggest the Curtiss P-40N-5 Warhawk for USA Aviation, and this is one of my series of suggestions for the P-40 variants in the US Army Air Corps and US Army Air Force services. The P-40N variant was by far the most produced variant of the Warhawk with over 5,000 produced. It was built to be lighter and capable of better flight performance than the earlier variants. Starting with the P-40N-5 (Model 87W), this subvariant has a redesigned canopy to give the pilot a better field of vision.
History
The P-40N of the first N-1 production block was originally an attempt to build a lightweight variant of the Warhawk after the P-40L and P-40M. It deleted wing racks, reduced to four wing guns, and downsized its internal fuel to decrease weight. The first was built and delivered in March of 1943.
By late 1943, the framed canopies that were standard on all US Army Air Forces fighters except the P-38 were poor in combat, as they severely limited the pilot’s visibility.
The P-40N-5 production block introduced a new canopy in a different form from the bubble-top P-47Ds and P-51Ds. The area of the spine aft of the cockpit was redesigned, and the two aft windows were deleted. The fuselage skin was removed, and an angled decking was installed over the fuselage tank. A clear glazing of two small frames was placed over the angled decking. A frameless sliding hood was also redesigned. While the new canopy is not optimal as a bubble canopy, this canopy provides an adequately clear vision. It retains all the rest of the production blocks of the N variant.
The N-5 restored the full six gun wings and wing racks due to the complaints of insufficient firepower from the pilots, as the P-40N was used as the fighter bomber in its primary role in Italy and the Far East. With new wing racks, they increased the external load capacity to 2,500 pounds. Three drop tanks could be used for a ferry range of up to 3,100 miles.
The P-40Ns up through the -15 production block were powered by the same Allison V-1710-81 engine used in the P-40M. This engine produced 1,200 horsepower. With increases in the empty and gross weights, the P-40N-5’s top speed was only 2 to 4 mph slower than the P-40N-1 (375 mph vs 378 mph).
1,100 P-40N-5s were produced and delivered to the USAAF by August 1943. The P-40N exports were known as Kittyhawk IVs in the Royal Air Force service. 586 P-40Ns were to be delivered to Britain, but the first 130 were diverted to the USSR.
The American P-40Ns saw limited service as the pure fighter in Europe, which could not conduct high-altitude missions due to the nonexistence of a two-stage supercharger. The P-40Ns saw success as the fighter bombers in Italy, performing in close air support and ground attack. On the contrary, they saw success as the fighters in the Pacific, India, Burma, and China. Other than these, the P-40Ns remained in training roles as later types of the P-51 Mustang and the P-47 Thunderbolt became increasingly available in quantity.
According to the sources, many pilots still preferred the P-40N over the Mustangs and Thunderbolts for the type of aircraft in the China Burma India theater, as they claimed that the Warhawk was the most reliable of the three fighters. These fighters were seen to be used in Operation Ichi-Go, the final major Japanese offensive in China in 1944. The P-40Ns and P-40Ms of the 14th Air Force flew and disrupted their attack in both fighter and fighter-bomber roles.
These American air units had to retreat by the autumn of 1944 in China. The year also saw a morbidly great increase in losses of P-40s. At the start of 1945, the P-40s withdrew from the front line, as did the arrival of the P-51 Mustang in significant numbers, although some units retained the aircraft until as late as April 1945.
Specifications
Curtiss P-40N-5 WarhawkGeneral Characteristics
- Crew: 1 (Pilot)
- Length: 33 ft 3.72 in (10.15 m)
- Height: 12 ft 4.5 in (3.77 m)
- Span: 37 ft 3.5 in (11.37 m)
- Wing Area: 236 sq ft (21.93 sq m)
- Propeller Type: 3-bladed constant speed propeller
- Powerplant: Allison V-1710-81 piston engine
→ 1,200 hp (895 kW)- Internal Fuel: 157 US gal. (594 L)
- Oil Tankage: 8.75 US gal. (33.1 L)
- Empty Weight: 6,700 lb (3,039 kg)
- Gross Weight: 8,400 lb (3,810 kg)
- Max. Takeoff Weight: 11,500 lb (5,216 kg)
Engine ratings
Takeoff:
→ 1,200 bhp @ 3,000 rpm @ S.L.
War Emergency:
→ 1,480 bhp @ 3,000 rpm @ 10,000 ft
Military:
→ 1,125 bhp @ 3,000 rpm @ 17,000 ft
Normal:
→ 1,000 bhp @ 2,600 rpm @ S.L. - 14,400 ft
Performance @ Military Power
- Power-to-Weight Ratio: 0.14 hp/lb (0.23 kW/kg)
- Critical Altitude Speed: 350 mph @ 16,400 ft (563 km/h @ 5,000 m)
- Rate of Climb: 1,860 fpm (9.45 m/s)
- Time to Altitude: 7.32 minutes to 14,000 ft (4,267 m)
- Service Ceiling: 31,000 ft (9,449 m)
- Combat Range: 750 miles (1,207 km)
Armament
Guns:
- 6 x .50-cal. M2 Browning machine guns (235 rpg; 1,410 rounds)
Bombs:
- 2 x 1,000-lb bombs or 1 x 1,000-lb bomb
- 1 x 500-lb bomb or 2 x 500-lb bombs
Rockets:
- 6 x M8 rocket launchers
Drop Tank:
- 52-gal drop tank
Diagrams
Conclusion | Why it should be in the game
I made this suggestion to request more World War II-era vehicles for War Thunder. I feel the P-40N-5, as a representation of the most produced and final Warhawk variant, was the most important American Warhawk aircraft incorporated with the latest modifications and should deserve its place in the game. Performance-wise, the P-40N-5 should and certainly would perform better than all previous Warhawk variants except the P-40N-1, N-20, N-40, and XP-40Q. Thus, this P-40N-5 would make a welcoming addition to the P-40 Warhawk family for US Aviation.
See Also – P-40 Family
- Pilot’s Flight Operating Instructions for Army Model P-40N Series, British Model Kittyhawk IV Airplanes, AN 01-25CN-1 (25 September 1944)
- Memorandum Report on P-40N-5 Airplane, AAF No.42-105241: Performance Tests and Range Survey, Memo Report No. Eng-47-1685-A (14 January 1944)
- Curtiss P-40 in Action (1984)
- P-40 Warhawk In Detail & Scale 63 Part 2 (2002)
- P-40 Performance Tests
- Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
- P-40 Warhawk Variants
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk variants - Wikipedia
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk - Wikipedia
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk development history
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Performance Figures
- Curtiss P-40 - Introduction
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion! 😃