Markings for P-40N Warhawk 1/48
COL A
42-105128, P-40N-5, 2Lt. Philip R. Adair, 89th FS, 80th FG, Nagaghuli, India, early 1944
Philip Reed Adair enlisted in military flight training after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served with the 80th FG for eighteen months in 1943 and 1944 and flew 139 combat missions. The most remarkable of these took place on December 13, 1943, when he fought alone against a formation of 24 Japanese bombers and 40 fighters. He was credited with one confirmed kill and three other aircraft as damaged, but most importantly, he managed to break up the enemy formation and disrupt the bombing of his own base. He himself was hit several times in this combat and received the Silver Star for his bravery. During this mission, he flew his first Lulu Belle, which was a P-40N-1 Warhawk. The second aircraft of the same name, shown here, was already a P-40N-5 version. Adair received it in early 1944 and on May 17, again fighting against superior forces, he shot down two Oscars. In June 1944, he and the entire group began retraining on Thunderbolts, but he did not achieve any further kills. The 80th FG was called the Burma Banshees, and most of its aircraft were decorated with a skull on the nose. None of them were the same, although they sometimes differed only in details. The primary role of the group was to provide air cover for bases involved in air supply operations to units in China via the Himalayas (Hump operations). Later, from October 1943, the group was tasked with providing air support to units in northern Burma. Philip Adair died at the age of 97 on May 13, 2017.
COL B
42-105116, P-40N-5, Capt. Gilmer L. Snipes, 45th FS, 15th FG, Nanumea, December 1943
Although the 15th FG was based in the Hawaiian Islands, it kept sending its squadrons to various locations in the central and southern Pacific. One of these was Baker Atoll, where the 45th FS was sent in September 1943, before moving on to Abemama Island and then Makin in the fall of 1943, from where it carried out raids against bases on the Julait and Mili atolls until March 1944. The transfer of the 45th FS Warhawks to Baker in mid-September 1943 took the Japanese by surprise, and they paid for it with the loss of an H8K Emily flying boat. On October 23, 1943, a pair of P-40s was guided to an aircraft of this type and sent it into the waves of the Pacific. The kill was credited to Capt. Gilmer L. Snipes, who had 2nd Lt. R. Hendrickson as his wingman. It was the first kill of 45th FS in the war. In April 1944, “Buck” Snipes took command of the squadron and, after rearming with Mustangs, participated in the deployment of the 15th FG from Iwo Jima, including three VLR missions over Japan. During the first of these, on April 7, 1945, he was credited with shooting down a Ki-44 Tojo. Because the standard P-40 color scheme did not serve its purpose on the coral atolls, the technical staff mixed a sand color that matched the local conditions before the squadron moved to Baker Atoll. The undersides were repainted with a light blue color mixed from insignia blue and white. The stencils were mostly masked during repainting and therefore have the original background.
COL C
P-40N-20, 43-23400, Maj. Donald L Quigley, CO of 75th FS, 23rd FG, Kweilin, China, August 1944
Donald Quigley was born on December 28, 1919, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and after his studies he worked for the Marion Power Shovel Company. He joined the Army Air Corps in March 1941 and, while still in training at Randolph Field in Texas, became engaged to his future wife, Irene Klingel. In her honor, Quigley had the words “Rene The Queen” (Rene is a diminutive form of Irene) painted on the cowling of his personal P-40N. Before serving with the 75th FS, 23rd FG, Quigley served with the 80th FG, where he flew 23 combat missions with the 90th FS. In June 1944, Quigley took command of the 75th FS and shot down five enemy aircraft in July and August 1944 before being shot down himself over enemy territory on August 10, 1944. He spent 13 long months in captivity and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after his release. After the war, he left the army and worked for 60 years as a freelance jewelry engraver for major jewelry companies. He died on March 13, 2021.
COL D
P-40N-5, 7th FS, 49th FG, Finschhafen, New Guinea, September 1944
Aircraft number 22 was part of a series of 7th FS Warhawks decorated with a painting of a girl on the engine cowling. The author of the paintings was Johnie Dunne, who also decorated the noses of Daddy Please / Milky Wagon Express, Dawn Patrol, Island Dream, Empty Saddle, Scarlet Night, and others with his characteristic style. Not much is known about the history of the aircraft named Grade A. It is reported that it was occasionally flown by Capt. Elliott E. Dent Jr. Further information is linked to Lt. Warren Greczyn, a pilot of Polish origin, who shot down two Ki-43 Oscars over Biak on May 15, 1944, while flying Grade A. This profile shows the final appearance of Grade A in the 7th FS, as documented at Finschhafen Airfield in September 1944. Here, along with other Warhawks from the 7th FS, it was stripped of its weapons and decommissioned. The aircraft was unusual in that it did not have white-painted leading edges on its wings. It also did not have the blue paint on the top of the rudder indicating its affiliation with the 7th FS, and the serial number was also painted over. Many of the decommissioned Warhawks of the 49th FG were subsequently used by the 71st TRG, which used them during the fighting in the Philippines in early 1945.
COL E
P-40N-5, 1/Lt. Benjamin H. Ashmore, 26th FS, 51st FG, Kunming, China, 1944
Benjamin Howard Ashmore’s father was a pilot, and his son intended to follow in his footsteps. In 1942, he began Army flight training, which he completed a year later when he retrained on Thunderbolts. He was originally supposed to go to Europe, but at the last minute he was redirected to India, where he joined the 26th FS 51st FG. He flew 78 missions with this unit, shot down two aircraft in aerial combat, and earned, among other decorations, the Chinese pilot wings, which was personally awarded to him by General Chiang Kai-shek. He flew two Warhawks P-40N and later a P-51B Mustang in combat. All three aircraft bore the name Anvil Chorus and the emblem of a bull’s head on a map of Texas with a torn Japanese flag in one corner. In accordance with squadron custom, the emblem was most likely applied to both sides of his aircraft. After the war, he graduated from the University of Nebraska and served in the USAF for another 21 years. He flew as part of the Berlin Airlift, reactivated five RAF air bases in post-war England, and in the early 1960s served as commanding officer at the then newly opened US Air Force Academy. He flew the F-84, F-100, and F-102. After leaving the military, he spent 15 years as a cattle rancher on his property in Garfield, Arkansas, and farmed in Monte Ne. He owned a private plane and hangar at the airport near Ingleside and flew until he was 90. He died on March 30, 2014, at the age of 92.
COL F
A29-651, F/O John Noel Olivier, No. 80 Squadron, Noemfoor Island, 1944
No. 80 Squadron was formed in Townsville on September 10, 1943, and was equipped with P-40 Kittyhawks. On October 9, it moved to Aitkenvale and on November 13 became part of No. 10 Operational Group, whose main task was to support the advance of Allied troops along the northern coast of New Guinea. No. 10 Operational Group was redesignated as the First Tactical Air Force on October 25, 1944. No. 80 Squadron moved to Morotai on January 21, where it continued operations over the Maluku Islands. The lack of significant targets in the vicinity caused a decline in morale among the unit and other RAAF units in the area from the end of 1944. The aircraft with a drawing of the Disney character Thumper the Rabbit was transferred to No. 78 Squadron at the end of 1944 and redesignated HU S. The drawing of the rabbit remained on it.