The P-40 now is like an old champion thoroughbred that's been retired from racing. But what a record of wins the old horse piled up! It's an airplane you can be proud to fly. You know about the Flying Tigers and how they kept the Burma Road open with a handful of P-40's. They were out numbered, they were fighting against Jap planes that could climb and maneuver better. But the Flying Tigers had superior skill, guts, teamwork, armor and firepower. In their P-40's over Burma they wrote a glorious page -in the history of aerial combat. In other theaters the P-40's score-sheet is also impressive. By actual count, in 50, representative air battles the score of P- 40 squadrons against the enemy was 13% to 1! The P-40 has been one of the most versatile of aircraft. It has doubled as a light bomber, dive bomber and attack bomber. In 1943, pilots in Burma called them "B-40's" and blasted Jap bridges with 1000-lb. bombs shackled to the belly. Whatever the P-40 has been called upon to do, it has done. Since the first P-40 in 1940, there have been 14 major modifications and many other less sweeping changes in the airplane. The newest P-40, the N model, represents three years of lessons learned in the hard school of combat

In 1940 the first P-40's were sent to the British. They called it the Tomahawk. By the end of 1940 the B, C and D series were in England. The D was so different from the earlier models that the British gave it a new name-the Kittyhawk. In 1941 came the E model. In 1942 the Allison engine was replaced by a Packard-built RollsRoyce engine in the P-40 F. (This one was called the Warhawk by the British.) Through 1942 and 1943 modifications continued. The Rolls-Royce was replaced by an improved Allison. Better propeller, hydraulic, electric, fuel, oil and coolant systems were installed. The streamlining was improved. The plane was armored better. Each modification made it a better airplane. The last few models are about as much like the first P-40 as the 1942 Ford V-8 is like the first Ford V-8. Two years ago the latest P-40's would have been the best fighters in the air. Today they've been passed up by newer fighters. But they're still the best, fastest, most nervous airplanes you've ever flown. It requires all of your skill, all of your concentration, all of your alertness, to master the P-40. It is worth the sweat and study. Rememberif you're a good P-40 pilot, you're a -good fighter pilot.