Those who have served know that war is not romantic. It is destruction and death. Yet, certain aspects of conflict have been romanticized. In the lore of World War II fighting men and machines the P-40 ranks at or near the top of this list. The American volunteer group in China, organized in 1941 under General Claire Chennault, flew 180 P-40’s. They were dubbed the Flying Tigers. Between December of 1941 and July 1942 they destroyed a total of 299 Japanese aircraft while only loosing 12 P-40s in combat. Seven months after Pearl Harbor, they were absorbed into the US Army Air Force as the 23rd Fighter Group  and served in China and South East Asia for the duration of the war. What the Flying Tigers accomplished in such a short period of time ensured their lasting fame in the annuals of wartime aviation. The P-40 was not an aircraft without problems. It was always adequate but was also always just a step behind its competitors and enemies, particularly in the area of altitude performance. Development was continuous in an effort to produce its successor. Yet, each proved to possess two small a margin of improvement to Merritt interruption of assembly lines. No less than four different engines and three cooling systems were tried at one time or another.

The P-40 never quite achieved the performance levels set for it. Yet, it had a highly successful history. It proudly served the air forces of eight allied nations and compiled impressive combat statistics in all theaters of the war. While the engineers were never quite satisfied with the craft, the men who flew them swore by the fighters  reliability and performance. Perhaps these men were downgrading their own skills. Although the P-40 was often outmatched on the drawing board, it was a marvelous machine in aerial combat. One must conclude that the pilots skill accounted for this contradiction.