Evening star., 1943-07-12
The P-40 Fighters


mittee's indictment of the Curtiss-
Wright Corporation which deals with
the Lockland, Ohio, engine plant
raises issues upon which the ,layman
is not qualified to pass judgment.
The committee says that the cor
poration has been guilty Of gross
negligence" in its engine inspection
procedures. The officials of the cor
poration, supported by Lieutenant
General william Knudsen, deny that
this is true, asserting that the charge
is false and unwarranted. Mean
while, the Government has brought
suit against the corporation on the
basis of the committees complaint,
and 1t is to be supposed that the
true facts will be developed at the
trial.
But the committees attack on the
P-40 fighter plane is another matter,
for this work horse" of the Army's
Air Force has made its record in
combat and it can be appraised on
the basis of that record. The Tru-
man Committee has been shooting
at the P-40 for a long time. Last
year we. were told that it was no
better than good trainer and that
the Jap Zero could fly rings around
it. Now, according to the committee,
it is "at best second choice" among
American and Allied flyers. That is
dealing rather harshly with a fighter
which has been in the thick of COM
bat on many fronts since the first
day of the war and which has fully
proved its overall excellence.
When the japanese struck at
Pearl Harbor the P-40 was the only
Army fighter that this country was
turning out in any quantity. And
since we could not tell, prior to that
time, where we would have to fight
or who our enemy might be, the
P-40 had to be designed to fight any,
where and under all conditions. The
record shows that it has lived up to
that responsibility.
The P-40 has seen heavy action in
such varied theaters as the Aleutians,
China, India, the Southwest Pacific,
Libya and Russia. Experience has
shown that specialized plane like
the Spitfire, deadly in the British
theater for which it was designed,
has very limited usefulness when
forced to fight elsewhere under con-
ditions different from those prevail
ing in the British Isles. But the
P-40 has met all comers in many
theaters, and its record everywhere
has been good.
1t is the only fighter plane used
by our 14th Air Force in China.
Yet in all operations since July 4,
1912, in China the P-4Os have
knocked down better than ten Jap
anese planes for every one of their
own number that has been lost.
And If we count Jap planes de-
stroyed on the ground the score
stands at better than twelve to one
1t may be a second choice among
American and Allied flyers, but
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Allison.
crack United States fighter pilot
says that he would not trade the
wing tips of his P-40 for Jap Zero
Some of the best individual scores
in Africa have been made in P-4Os.
1t did marvellous job in spearhesd-
ing the British offensive in Libya.
The Russians use it and like it. Un-
doubtedly better planes have been
designed to serve a limited purpose
in restricted theaters. But as an
all-purpose pursuit ship, designed to
fight anywhere under any conditions,
the P-40 was the best of it's day, and
it deserves better treatment than it
has received at the hands of the
Truman Committee.