P-40N KITTYHAWK

Most know the P-40 as the mount of American General Clair Chenault's Flyng Tigers operating in China against the Japanese at the outset of the war. But, one of the greatest P-40 pilots anywhere was Canada's own W/C James "Stocky" Edwards who flew hundreds of successful Kittyhawk missions with 260 Squadron in the North African campaign. Edwards used his underrated Kittyhawk to shoot down Luftwaffe ace Otto Schulz, one of the most skilled pilots flying a supposed superior aircraft - the Messerschmitt Bf-109F. To honour this great Canadian pilot, the Vintage Wings of Canada P-40 is painted in the exact Desert Air Force markings of Edwards' 260 Squadron Kittyhawk.

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter of World War II, after the P-51 and P-47; by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built,[3] all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities at Buffalo, New York.P-40 Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps gave the plane, and after June 1941, the USAAF adopted the name for all models, making it the official name in the U.S. for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the original P-40, P-40B, and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

The P-40 saw action with the Desert Air Force of the RAF in North Africa. Though not a first rate high altitude dogfighter, the Kittyhawk with its long range, bomb load and armour, became a formidable low-level fighter-bomber.

This particular Kittyhawk, a former Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, was pulled from the Papua New Guinean jungle near the town of Tadji on the northern coast and rebuilt in Ardmore, New Zealand by Pioneer Aviation.

The aircraft was sold to an American buyer in 2021.