P-40 Warhawk

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engine fighter and fighter-bomber, developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a modification of the earlier P-36 Hawk that allowed it to reach production quickly, first flying in October 1938 and entering service in 1939. Powered by a liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engine and built with all-metal construction, the P-40 lacked a two-stage supercharger and so performed poorly at high altitude compared with contemporary German and Japanese fighters, but it remained effective and rugged at the lower altitudes where much of the air fighting in North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China actually took place. With 13,738 built, it was the third most-produced American fighter of the Second World War and served with most of the Allied air forces in some capacity, flying as an air superiority fighter, bomber escort and ground-attack fighter-bomber, remaining in frontline use in multiple theaters through the end of the war.