Kittyhawks of Two Continents

Text: Jan Zdiarský 

Illustrations: Gareth Hector

Cat. No. 11187

Limited edition kit boxarts do not usually convey a specific story or situation. They are meant to evoke a certain atmosphere and visually prepare the modeler for what awaits them in the box. This is especially true regarding Dual Combo kits, where the selection of markings is very diverse and colourful, and the aircraft depicted on the box may be related to war zones that are quite distant from each other.

This is the case with the Dual Combo Kittyhawk, where an RAF Kittyhawk from the African battlefield and an RAAF aircraft from the South Pacific fly together over the desert.

Nevertheless, both aircraft have a lot in common, the elegant and combative expression characteristic of all P-40s being not the least.

The British used Tomahawks (P-40B/C) and Kittyhawks (P-40D - N) in Africa with great success. These aircraft played an important role as workhorses in the North African desert campaign. In addition to the RAF, they were flown by Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Canadians (who did not have their own RCAF squadrons in Africa and were assigned to RAF squadrons).

These aircraft were not the fastest or the best at higher altitudes, but their sturdy construction, which could withstand considerable damage in combat, and their ability to perform ground attack missions made them indispensable to the Allies in North Africa.

Probably the most notable unit using Kittyhawks in Africa and the Mediterranean in general was the RAF 112 Squadron. It was famous not only for its great combat successes (by the end of the war, its pilots had claimed 206 enemy aircraft destroyed in the air and 62 on the ground), but also for the distinctive shark mouth painted on the radiators at the bottom of the nose of their aircraft. This feature was adopted from the American Flying Tigers (1st American Volunteer Group), which operated in the Sino-Japanese War in 1941–42. Both instances of the "sharkmouth" created a kind of trademark, a visual image inextricably linked to the P-40 aircraft.

The first of the two aircraft in the picture, Kittyhawk ET789, belonged to the aforementioned No. 112 Squadron RAF and was flown in 1942 by Australian pilot Sgt. Wallace Daniel Hogg. Among other things, he took part in a major battle with German Ju 87s in April 1942, during which his Kittyhawk was seriously damaged. Sgt. Hogg nevertheless managed to get home and continued to fight for the following months, until October 21, 1942, when he was shot down and captured. He spent the rest of the war in the Stalag Luft 3 POW camp in Sagan.

The pilot of the second Kittyhawk from the box art was also Australian. Unlike Hogg, he served in a purely Australian unit (No. 75 Squadron RAAF) and also much closer to home. The squadron's heyday came in the spring of 1942, when it served on Noemfoor Island in the South Pacific, where it primarily defended the port of Port Moresby. During just over six weeks of fighting, the squadron shot down 35 enemy aircraft and damaged nearly 60. However, it also suffered considerable losses. It lost 12 pilots and 22 aircraft in combat and accidents. Most of its Kittyhawks were lost or seriously damaged by the end of this period. On May 3, 1942, the squadron was withdrawn from combat and returned to the Australian mainland. After being re-equipped with aircraft and new pilots, it was deployed to Milne Bay, not far from its previous battlefield. The squadron then operated from various bases in Papua New Guinea until December 1944.

The story of the second aircraft shown here falls within this period, specifically August 1944. The Kittyhawk with RAAF designation A29-521 was piloted by F/O T. R. Jacklin of the RAAF's No. 75 Squadron. On August 9, 1944, Jacklin’s aircraft suffered serious damage in combat, with more than a quarter of the left wing destroyed. The left aileron was completely missing. Despite an  aircraft so badly damaged, F/O Jacklin managed to fly more than 200 miles to Noemfoor Island and land at his base.

In two very different combat areas, the desert environment of North Africa and the extremely humid climate of the South Pacific, the Kittyhawks suffered considerably, yet without losing their combat value. The demanding climatic conditions affected not only the airframe, instruments, weapons, and power units, but also the surface. Camouflage paint in these areas faded and chipped significantly. This makes these planes even more interesting for modelers today. This interest is also enhanced by the numerous paintings, emblems and nose art that usually adorned the Kittyhawks and P-40 aircraft in general.