P-40F-5 Lafayette (France)

▄P-40F-5 Lafayette

▄P-40F-5 Lafayette

France

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.3	2.7	2.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:850

Show in game

Description

The ▄P-40F-5 Lafayette is a premium rank II French fighter with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB) and 2.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Raining Fire".

General info

Flight performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at _,___ 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
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
0	300	645	550	265	~11	~5

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

Survivability and armour

• 3 mm steel between oil cooling system and engine
• 8 mm steel behind pilot
• 38 mm bulletproof glass in front of pilot
• Self-sealing fuel tanks (1 behind pilot, 1 under pilot, 1 in front of pilot's feet

Armaments

Offensive armament

The P-40F-5 Lafayette (France) is armed with:

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

Suspended armament

The P-40F-5 Lafayette (France) 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

Describe the tactics of playing in the aircraft, the features of using aircraft in a team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but instead, give the reader food for thought. Examine the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Air RB

The P-40 is good at low altitude and turn-fights. Compared to planes like Bf-109's that it faces, eg the E-3, G-2s and F-4s, these aircraft can't keep up in a turn but are overall faster. The speed of this aircraft, 560 km/h makes it pretty fast for its tier and battle rating, however, this is only applied at lower altitudes. An important point to remember is that this aircraft cannot perform above 5,000 m. While it can eventually reach 9,555 m, it is all but useless at this altitude, since any aircraft it would typically meet at that height would have superior engines that work best at these altitudes.

When you dive on other planes, watch your speed! This aircraft is nearly uncontrollable at a speed of 600 km/h or faster when in dive. It is advised to stay at a perfect combat speed of 400 - 500 km/h. The Kittyhawk's 6 x 12.7 mm makes it very powerful for its tier because other planes at this tier have only started utilizing cannons and are typically outfitted with mostly lower calibre guns such as 7.7 mm or the like. The 1686 Round of the 12.7 mm can be conserved, however spraying will cause the ammo count to reduce very quickly- hitting the target well ( wings and control surfaces )is very effective. An aware and good pilot can make up to 5 kills in a single round against human pilots. Watch your engine temperature when you climb- if you climb- as it will sit at an acceptable level of heating unless damaged. When diving, set the throttle to 0% to reduce temperature and speed when diving- the most embarrassing thing would be to crash into the ground due to control lock-up!

Ground RB

The P-40 can excel as a fighter as air battles often take place at lower altitudes in order to support allied ground units. The P-40 can out-turn most of its contemporaries and can also boom and zoom on slower, less armoured targets (i.e. a lot of Japanese air vehicles). Below is a list of some air units you will face and should take care in engaging. 

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
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".

Pros:

Cons:

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

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• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
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France premium aircraft
Fighters	D.371 H.S.9 · Pallier's D.510 · ▄P-39Q-25 · ▄P-40F-5 Lafayette · ▄P-47D-22-RE · F-6C-10-NA
	M.B.152C1 · ▄Yak-3 · Challe's ▄Yak-9T · NC.900 · S.O.8000 Narval
Jet fighters	Milan · Mirage F1C-200
Strike aircraft	▄AD-4NA · F-84F IAF
Bombers	Late 298D · ▄PBY-5A Late
Jet bombers	Vautour IIA IDF/AF · S.O.4050 Vautour IIN