P-40F-10

P-40F-10

P-40E-1

P-51C-10

P-40F-10

P-40E-1

P-51C-10

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.3	2.7	2.7

Class:

Fighter

Research:5 600

Purchase:22 000

Show in game

This page is about the American fighter P-40F-10. For other uses, see P40 (Disambiguation). For other vehicles of the family, see P-40 (Family).

Description

The P-40F-10 Warhawk is a rank II American fighter with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB) and 2.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X". The P-40F-10 Warhawk is a pursuit plane: its role is to intercept enemy fighters and bombers. The F-10 differs noticeably from the previous P-40 variants on 3 points:

• a new engine, the Packard-built Merlin engine that performs better at high altitudes,
• a longer tail to compensate the extra torque (the plane is 26 inches / 66 cm longer),
• the upper nose air intake is removed (while the lower nose air intake gets bigger).

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 5,029 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	588	569	11000	21.1	22.0	7.7	7.7	350
Upgraded	646	615		18.9	20.0	15.9	11.2

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flaps (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
		645	~11	~5

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 420	< 380	< 420	> 340

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
3,733 m	1,260 hp	1,584 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
6,400 m	1,175 hp	1,477 hp

Survivability and armour

Armour plates

• 38 mm Bulletproof glass in front of pilot.
• 3 mm Steel plate in front of oil cooling system.
• 8 mm Steel plate behind the pilot.

Critical components

• All critical components are located on the central airframe:
  • Self-sealing fuel tanks are located behind and under the pilot seat.
  • Engine and cooling systems are at the front of the plane.
  • Traction cables of control surfaces are in the tail section.
• Except for the armament, there are no critical modules in the wings.
• The wings can take a good amount of damage from MGs, except the tip that is easily blown off.
• 20mm ammunition will severe any wing clean.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The P-40F-10 is armed with:

• 6 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns, wing-mounted (281 rpg = 1,686 total)

Suspended armament

The P-40F-10 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (200 lb total)
• 1 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bomb (500 lb total)
• 1 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bomb + 2 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (700 lb total)

Usage in battles

The P-40F-10 performs similarly to the P-40E-1, although it is neither as fast (at lower altitudes) nor as good at turning. It has exactly the same armament as the E-1 but it does excel in one thing: bomber killing and fighter bombing.

Bomber hunting

Try to climb to around 3,000 m (10,000 ft) early game as your Warhawk does not climb amazingly fast (roughly 10° to 15° using WEP without secondary armament), but once you get up there, you can demolish anything that hovers at that altitude, which tend to be bombers as they don't like being intercepted by low flying fighters.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Combined	Controllable 2 gears	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe		FSBC mk.1
III	Wings repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs
IV		Engine injection	Cover		FMBC mk.1

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good survivability
• Can outrun most on-tier vehicles in a straight-line path
• Good energy retention in a dive
• Better performance at it's mid to high speeds

Cons:

• Engine prone to overheating
• Like the previous iteration of the P-40, does not do well in a turn fight
• Sub-par climb rate

History

Although early P-40s were equipped with one of the most powerful inline engines available to the American aircraft industry at the time, it quickly became apparent that even that wasn't enough. Due to its advanced and robust design, it's no secret that the P-40 was a relatively heavy aircraft for its type, resulting in power-to-weight issues which would never be fully solved. Nonetheless, Curtiss engineers continued tweaking and improving the design in all aspects, trying to lessen the drawbacks of high weight and insufficient power.

In 1940, the American Packard Motor Car Company acquired a licence to manufacture the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, in an effort to satisfy the growing demand of the British aviation industry. Additionally, the licence gave American engineers access to a more powerful engine at a time where similar U.S. engines were not available. Naturally, Curtiss engineers didn't waste any time outfitting the P-40 with the brand new licence-built Merlin engine, resulting in the creation of the P-40F. Besides the internal engine upgrade, some external changes were also applied to the aircraft. For instance, the tail section of the fuselage was lengthened in an effort to counter the negative effects of strong engine torque on take-off and landing experienced on earlier modifications. With the changes applied, serial production of the new P-40F was scheduled to begin in 1942. As the British and Commonwealth air forces were particularly keen on a Merlin-engined P-40 variant, they were also the first ones to receive the new P-40Fs as early as summer of the same year.

Despite the British and Commonwealth forces receiving the P-40Fs first, the majority of the 1,300 manufactured machines served with units of the USAAF in the Mediterranean theatre. By the end of the Mediterranean campaign in late 1943, the P-40F had successfully proven the value of the applied changes by presenting itself as a more than capable air superiority fighter, when matched up against previously superior Axis counterparts such as the Bf 109F/G and M.C. 202/205. During its service in the Mediterranean, experienced pilots, applying the right tactics showed that the Warhawk could no longer be considered the underdog, but instead an equal at very least.

Interesting: The Soviet Union received P-40 fighters under the lend-lease program; they were considered to be aircraft with medium efficiency but were quite durable. Lieutenant Alexei Khlobystov in one battle conducted two successful rams and after that encounter, the pilot and his “Kittyhawk” returned to the airfield!

- From Devblog

Media

The Shooting Range #98 - Pages of History section at 09:01 discusses the P-40F.

See also

Related development

• Curtiss P-36 Hawk
• Curtiss P-40 (Family)

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Bell P-39 Airacobra
• Dewoitine D.520
• Grumman F4F Wildcat
• Hawker Hurricane
• Kawasaki Ki-61
• Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3
• Macchi C.202
• Messerschmitt Bf 109
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
• Mitsubishi A6M Zero
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Yakovlev Yak-1

External links

• [Devblog] Curtiss P-40F: The Mediterranean Angel of Death
• Wikipedia - Curtiss P-40 Warhawk variants