Of all the many WW2 Warbirds King & Country has produced over the years one of the most popular has always been an aircraft that flew in Nationalist Chinese colours and was flown by American pilots – The Curtiss P40B 'Warhawk'.
These U.S. made fighter planes belonged to the First American Volunteer Group (AVG), nicknamed the 'Flying Tigers' and commanded by Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault.
This unique group consisted of three fighter squadrons of around 30 aircraft each trained in Burma before America's entry into WW2. Their mission was to combat the Japanese forces then in control of the skies over China at that time.
Once training was complete the group first saw action on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbour.It soon demonstrated its innovative flying techniques and shot down impressive numbers of enemy aircraft during a time when the Japanese appeared victorious everywhere else.
Our latest K&C 'Flying Tiger' P40 is painted in the colours and markings of #45 of the 3^rd Pursuit Squadron (known as 'Hell's Angels'). This particular aircraft had no assigned pilot and was flown by a number of well-known individual pilots including:
Arvid Olson (Squadron Commander)
Robert "RT" Smith and
Robert Prescott (Founder of the Flying Tigers airline)
#45 and its various pilots shot down 7 Japanese aircraft.