Warbirds! #14: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Traditional Cache

Shark-nose P-40s flown in defense of China by Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group (better known as the "Flying Tigers") captured the imagination and patriotism of Americans in the dark, early days of World War II. Unfortunately, their early, export-version P-40s were inferior to the Japanese Zeros they were thrown up against. The P-40 was not much more than an inline-engine derivative of the radial-engine P-36 from the early 1930s. Its Allison V-12 engine lacked supercharging, meaning performance fell off sharply at altitude. But Chennault wisely taught his pilots to leverage the P-40s tactical strengths and superior firepower, better armor protection, modern self-sealing fuel tanks and impressive speed in a dive to help the Chinese stem the tide against the Japanese.