Curtiss P-40 Warhawk start-up and take off | Military Aviation Museum

The Museum’s P-40E-1-CU was built for the United States Army Air Corps as serial number 41-35918 (Curtiss Contract Number 1025) in Buffalo, New York during 1941. The aircraft was transferred to the British as a Kittyhawk IA (ET564) and they supplied the aircraft (along with 9 others during April – May 1942) to the USSR’s VVS (Voyenno-Vozdushnyye Sily “Military Air Forces”) where it flew with the 19th Guards Regiment.

The airplane’s wreckage was recovered outside the Soviet city of Murmansk, having been lost while defending this vital port against the invading German army. The wreck was recovered in 1992 and was restored, completing its first flight in New Zealand in 2001 before being shipped to the United States where it would become the first airplane in the Military Aviation Museum collection.

Our P-40 flies in the markings of American Volunteer Group (AVG) P-40E 41-5658 “108” of the 3rd Squadron “Hell’s Angels.” It features the distinctive shark-mouth markings made famous by the group, as well as their Walt Disney Studio-designed Flying Tiger emblem. The aircraft also features Nationalist Chinese Insignia in place of American Stars, since the AVG, although made up of American aviators, was not a part of the US Military.

The Military Aviation Museum is located in Virginia Beach, VA. Visit us today!

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