"The Greatest Show On Turf" Will Honor AVG, And Their
P-40s
The 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum told ANN this week its
theme for the 2008 Geneseo Airshow, planned for July 11-13 -- "The
Greatest Show on Turf." This year also commemorates the 70th
anniversary of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and it is the intention of
the 1941 HAG to celebrate this anniversary by honoring the people
and planes who made this aircraft one of the most famous and widely
recognized of World War II, through hosting a Flying Tigers
Reunion.
This event could possibly be the most talked about aviation
event of 2008 due to its unique subject. With over 13,700 Curtiss
P-40s of various models built between October 1938 and November
1944, it is sad to realize there are only about two dozen flying
today in North America.
It is the intention of the 1941 HAG to bring as many as possible
of these airframes together for a definitive reunion. Aviation
museums and private collectors from both coasts of the United
States and all parts in between, as well as in Canada, have been
invited to be a part of the unique warbird gathering.
Not since the 1970s have there been more than a handful of P-40s
together at any one location and flying together. When one thinks
about the success of the recent Gathering of Mustangs and Legends
held in September 2007 at Columbus, OH, where over 75 P-51 Mustangs
out of the existing 150-plus flying airframes showed up, the 1941
Historical Aircraft Group would be more than happy to see 50% of
the existing P-40s at its event.
The beautiful 4800' grass airfield of Geneseo is located in the
Western New York Finger Lakes Region that was the birthplace of the
Curtiss Corporation. Event organizers note Geneseo is exactly
halfway between Glenn Curtiss' hometown of Hammondsport, NY and the
WWII manufacturing center of Curtiss-Wright Corporation in Buffalo,
NY... a geographic coincidence that makes the Flying Tigers Reunion
even more unique.
The gathering of the planes, and the people, near the place
where the P-40 was created is a fantastic opportunity for the
public to meet and honor the veterans who flew and fought for
Allied victory is an even greater reason to attend.
Sadly, there are hardly any of the original American Volunteer
Group (AVG) pilots still alive. One of the last was David Lee "Tex"
Hill, who passed away October 11, 2007 at the age of 92. The 1941
HAG tells ANN it would like to contact any surviving P-40 pilots --
whether Flying Tiger, 14th Air Force member or others -- to invite
them to be part of the festivities.
Several former employees from the Curtiss factory in Buffalo
also plan to attend, as well as crew chiefs and mechanics who
serviced the P-40s in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). Anyone
who may know the whereabouts of any of these veterans should
contact us as soon as possible.
The history of the
Curtiss P-40 began in October of 1934 when its design-technician
Donovan A. Berlin developed the Hawk 75 (Mohawk), which had the
military designation P-36. This aircraft became the primary pursuit
plane for the recently established United States Army Air Corps
(USAAC) as well as foreign air forces like France's Armée de
l'Air. Among those exports were 30 of the fixed-gear Hawk 36H
models that went to Nationalist China in 1938 and were the type
first flown there by an American ex-Army Air Corps Captain Claire
Chennault, who became the Air Adviser to Generalissimo Chiang
Kai-Shek.
In July of 1937 Don Berlin replaced the P-36A's Pratt and
Whitney R-1830-17 Twin Wasp, 14-cylinder, air cooled radial 1,200
hp engine with an Allison V-1710-33, 12 cylinder "V" liquid cooled
1,040 hp power plant, and the XP-40 (Model 75P) was born. The
Curtiss P-40 was built in the nearby Buffalo, New York factory and
made its flying debut on October 14, 1938 as the model 81A. In 1941
Curtiss made major design modifications and the new version became
the model 87 with a 1,150 hp Allison V-1710-39 engine (P-40E) and
later, the V-1710-81 and V1710-99 (P-40N). In all, the
Curtiss factory produced 1,704 model 81s (P-40B & C's) and
12,034 model 87s, which saw service in the European, Pacific, North
African and Russian Theaters of Operation. The various models were
called at various times the Tomahawk, Kittyhawk and Warhawk.
Although the classic shark's-mouth of the Flying Tigers adorns
many of the P-40s invited to attend this reunion, not every
aircraft will display it. Some will have the plain, overall olive
drab paint scheme of the USAAC while others have the unique parrot
head or Aleutian Tiger motif. Some AVG pilots first saw the
shark's-mouth design in a photograph of a British RAF Tomahawk in
the November 2, 1941, issue of Illustrated Weekly of India and it
was soon adopted as the group trademark for all three squadrons.
Thereafter, the AVG was better known as the "Flying Tigers."
This event marks the 28th anniversary of the Geneseo Airshow.
Continuing a tradition as the premier warbird airshow of the
Northeast, the Geneseo Airshow and the 1941 Historical Aircraft
Group museum is committed to preserving aviation history for future
generations.