See Version 2.0 notes
at end of Document!
P-40E RNZAF Kittyhawk - NZ3009
"Kiwi Kitty" or Wauranapa Wild Cat
Pull up a chair. Time for
a mug of coffee or a nice cup of tea.
This will take a few
minutes of your time to read and should result in a greater appreciation of
this CFS aircraft.
I shall begin with a
direct quote taken from the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum:
"The Kittyhawk played a significant role in the Pacific,
becoming one of the RNZAF’s most important offensive aircraft in the central
and northern Solomons campaigns of 1943-1944. A total of five different RNZAF
P-40 squadrons were responsible for the destruction of 99 Japanese
aircraft [in the air.] After the frontline replacement by the Vought Corsair,
the P-40 served as an advanced trainer in New Zealand."
The picture above was
taken in 1997 and is of a fully restored NZ3009
P-40E, which is part of the collection associated with the New Zealand Fighter
Pilot’s Museum at Wanaka, South Island.
Unfortunately, though
the photograph is beautiful, the color is not correct, probably as a result of
some problem with the process of conversion. I have no doubt as to the accuracy
of the original.
Still, this is how it
all began for me; I "fell in love" with the photo and developed a
real appreciation for the New Zealand Fighter Pilot’s Museum site.
A
brief digression:
When you have an
opportunity, point your browser to:
www.nzfpm.co.nz/welcome/welcome.htm.
This site makes a
wonderful and very full "statement" about New Zealand participation
during World War Two. There are photographs of the aircraft which often fly
during the annual Warbirds over Wanaka celebration and there are some very well
told stories about the airmen who bravely risked – and in some cases, lost –
their lives fighting for the Allied cause. Most of these 57,000 pilots,
navigators and gunnery crew fought in the European Theater, half way round the
world from their homeland.
Did you know that the
first Allied ace of WW 2 was a Kiwi?
Flying Officer Edgar James Kain
‘Cobber’ Kain flew Hurricanes in the ETO with the 73 Squadron of
the RAF. He was credited with 14 kills, but was thought to have achieved in
excess of 20.
During one of his many heroic escapades, he engaged two Bf109s. He
was already damaged when he shot down the first one. The second 109 managed to
stop the Hurricane’s engine with a cannon shell before breaking off the
engagement.
Kain began a long glide to French territory starting from 20,000
feet. At one point the engine caught fire and Kain was about to bail when he
discovered his parachute had been damaged. Luckily the fire went out and he
managed to land safely – covering 30 miles without an engine!
‘Cobber’ Kain was subsequently killed while performing aerobatics
during what turned out – sadly - to be his final parting celebration before
returning to England.
His more complete story and those of the other 86 Kiwi aces can be
found at the NZFPM site.
In addition to the 87
stories in the "NZ Aces" section, there are other riveting or
otherwise compelling stories contained within the pages of the "Fragments
of Time" section. I cannot say enough to encourage you to experience the
"first-hand" pleasure of reading the true stories of heroic efforts.
While my odyssey began
there, I eventually found information on the Web which documented the
restoration of this aircraft in New Zealand on behalf of it’s present owners:
The Old Flying Machine Company. During the process, I learned about the
"true colors" of the plane:
The screen capture
below is the CFS P-40E "Kiwi Kittyhawk." Pretty close?
More
Inspiration !
If you are interested
in reading in detail, how NZ3009 was discovered and if you would like to see
photographs of the entire restoration process, point your browser to:
http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.simplenet.com/khawk.html
Additional photographs and information can be found in:
Fighting Aircraft of World War II by Bill Gunston
World War II War Eagles by Jeffrey E. Ethell and Warren E. Bodie. (page 32 has an early RAF-P40
w/similar camo – originally destined for the desert campaign.)
Flying Legends by John M. Dibbs
(especially good photo study various P-40s – including all-olive RNZAF
and Flying Tigers)
NZ3009
Background
Early in the war, New
Zealand received 297 P-40s from the RAF to be used for home defense. Four of
these number were destroyed by accidents before they made it into service. The
P-40s were assigned to 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 squadrons. 14 through 19
flew the Kittyhawks in the Pacific Theater variously as fighter operations,
bomber escort and fighter-bomber units. As previously stated. a total of 99
Japanese aircraft were destroyed in the air. Not until 1944 did the P-40s
begin to be replaced by the F4u Corsair.
It was in March of 1942
that the first of 34 Kittyhawks arrived, having been released to New Zealand by
the British Government. These were new P-40Es originally scheduled to go to the
Middle East. NZ3009 was number nine in the shipment of the first ten, arriving
in Auckland.
Our subject was flown
to Ohakea and then on to Masterson to become part of the newly formed 14
Squadron. Squadron Leader Stan Quill was first to fly NZ3009.
After accumulating 283
flying hours between April of 1942 and March of 1943 it was sent to RNZAF
Station Woodbourne where it was later assigned to 17 Squadron and then 15
Squadron, first to Whenuapai and then Seagrove. It was nearly destroyed by fire
when a rigger washed it down with gasoline!
The plane languished in
storage after that until it was "discovered" in the 1960s by aviation
enthusiasts who saved it from the scrap heap.
An ownership dispute
occurred sometime in 1992 resulting in it being purchased by the present
owners: The Old Flying Machine Company, based in Duxford, U.K. It has spent
quality flying time in both Wanaka and in Duxford.
Some words about the
painting of the aircraft . . .
After a good deal of
research on my part, it is unclear to me whether NZ3009 ever flew into combat
painted as you see it today. What I can say for sure is discussed below. The
CFS model painted by me is a faithful rendition of the actual aircraft as it
appears today.
Some
historical notes on the painting:
When the Kittyhawks
first arrived in New Zealand, they were painted in RAF colors and had been
destined for the Middle East. The olive-green and tan you see here is also
known as ‘sand and stone’ and is a good representation of this type of RAF
paint. The typical undercarriage paint usually would have been duck egg blue,
but might have been sand, based upon original destination.
In any case, the owners
believe that the present color scheme was the one used when the aircraft first
flew.
At some point, the
P-40s were painted in single color olive on the fuse, wings and cowl. The tail
was indeed white and patterned as you see it here. The wings did also have the
upper and lower white stripes. The vertical stripes are also authentic, but
they may have had red edging on the otherwise all-olive or all-green airplanes.
Finally, there are the
roundels. The roundels on the fuse always seem to have had yellow outer
circles. (The orange on the Phil Makanna photo was my first clue of poor color
correction.) The roundels on the wings never seemed to have yellow in them, but
they sometimes did have rectangular black-edged white bars or epaulets on them.
I have never seen a Kiwi aircraft with roundels on one wing only - the way the
U.S forces painted the wing insignia. Some of the P-40 fuselage roundels had
small red circles in the center as well.
I have an actual black
& white photo of a P-40 on an airstrip in the one-color, white tail scheme
with bars on the wing roundels.
An
historical perspective on Kiwi Participation
. . .
Below is an excerpt from the pages of the Pacific Theater entry on
the NZFPM site;
“The big move forward came in late
October 1943, to a new base at Ondonga (New Georgia) and from here the Allied
fighters covered the invasion of the Treasuries and then the Empress Augusta
Bay landing on west Bougainville. When the new fighter strip came into
operation at Torokina the main Japanese base at Rabaul was at last within range
of Allied light bombers and fighters, and soon the Kittyhawks were over this
famous harbour, escorting bombers or combining with American fighters in mighty
sweeps intended to "knock out" Japanese fighter power. Some of the
most dramatic dogfights of the South Pacific war were fought over and near
Rabaul at this time, and the New Zealand pilots claimed their biggest
"scores" (and suffered their heaviest losses in the process).
The "blood and flesh" cost of
the war on the small New Zealand fighter force was high enough, although
nothing like as bad as it could have been under less favourable circumstances.
Some 125 lives were lost in fighter aircraft (66 in Kittyhawks, 59 in Corsairs)
along with another 13 in Fighter squadron or Operational Training Unit
Harvards; 49 of these lives were lost within New Zealand. Three RNZAF fighter
pilots are known to have become prisoners of the Japanese; only one of these
men returned to New Zealand in September 1945.
And then there was the Kittyhawk
standing at Kukum strip in mid 1943, one of several on "scramble"
readiness; after being scrambled the pilot of this particular aircraft was
clawing for altitude when he noticed his coolant temperature gauge going
"off the clock". With all thought of combat forgotten our friend
hurriedly descended to lower altitude and decided on a landing on the beach.
This accomplished with some damage, an inspection soon revealed the cause;
mynah birds had constructed a large and untidy nest in the radiator intake even
as the aircraft awaited takeoff. The Solomon Islands! “
A
few words about the CFS Aircraft Package . . .
When I began this
project, I chose an airframe (MDL) created by Harald "Humming"
Reuter.
Harald did a fine job with
a very smooth and graceful overall shape. The cockpit or pilot area had a
two-dimensional pilot that would only show up when the engine was running.
After I applied Abacus
Aircraft Animator to animate the prop, the flaps and the landing gear, the pilot
– which was linked to prop movement – disappeared permanently.
Well, I had devoted
about two months and over 100 hours to this project and if I had to, I was
going to release it with or without the pilot!
I went out onto the
simcombat.com forum on two occasions with a description of this problem, and
the second time yielded a reference by a CFS pilot named ACWAI to:
http://www.btinternet.com/~duxford.legends/pages/p2.html
There, I found the P-40
of my dreams!
It had a
three-dimensional and nicely textured pilot and a very detailed sliding canopy
with transparent "glass" panels. The list of moving parts, in
addition to the canopy, included the prop, the ailerons, the rudder and elevator
and a fully articulated three-dimensional moving landing gear system! Even the
exhaust manifold would glow when the engine came up to full RPM! (I changed it
from red to orange.) Anti-collision/running lights available with the
"L" key.
But would my textures
fit? I couldn’t envision spending another 50 hours!
Yes!
Fortunately for me, the
new mdl was based upon the original done by Harald Reuter and redone by Reg
Allen, but the additional work would require adding five new panels to the
original ten and some minor adjusting, including editing the mdl for
appropriateness to my subject.
Voila! You see the
result – And no more A.W.O.L. pilot!
This MDL is up to the
highest standards established by the likes of Alain L’Homme, Pentti Kurkinen
and others.
For the Damage Profile,
I started with one used by Maurio Piccin for his P-40. I left the damage boxes
alone, but completely redid the guns profile for appropriateness and accuracy
for six (6) .50 caliber Brownings with an ammo load of 281 per gun.
The Flight Model is the
latest one done by Bruno Duffort, referred to as version 2.0. As you may know,
Bruno is very prolific and has done an extraordinary number of complete
aircraft packages and air files.
I have added the
ability to deploy an arrestor hook to the air file. Upon final approach and at
touchdown, hit the "/" key and the plane will behave as if snatched
by an arrestor cable.
General
Specifications:
Length: 31 ’2"
Height: 10’ 7"
Wingspan: 37’ 4"
Empty Weight: 6,350 lbs.
Operational Weight: 8,280 lbs.
Maximum Speed: 362 MPH
Service Ceiling: 29,000 ft.
Range: 850 miles
Power plant: Alison V-1710-39 1,150 hp 12 cylinder inline
Armament: Six .50 caliber machine guns
External bomb load: One 500 lb. And two 100 lb. bombs
So that is it for me
for now! The credits are listed concisely below:
Credits
and Copyrights:
Model: Original AFX and mdl by Harald "Humming" Reuter
with rebuild using the Harald's AFX by Reg Allen.
Flight Model: Bruno Duffort a.k.a GZR_Honky_Tonk_man &
EW_Tabaaha - V.2.0
Textures: Joe "CH_Jam" Amodea
Damage Profile: Original by Maurio Piccin, modified and edited by
Joe Amodea
The copyrights to the
components of this aircraft are owned by those listed above. Additionally, the
aircraft textures may not be used in combination with any other air files or
DP, without written permission of the artist/creator of the package, Joe
Amodea.
Disclaimer:
If your computer blows
up after installing this aircraft, don’t come crying to me! Use at your own
risk. There is no implied or any other kind of warranty.
I certainly have not
intended to violate or infringe on anyone’s rights. The best way to stay out of
trouble is to make sure that no money changes hands and that you do not
re-distribute this package!
A
few final words . . .
Get into a squadron if
you are not already part of one. I would never have gotten interested in this
stuff had I not begun to form good friendships on line. There are a lot of nice
people out there that can enrich your experience while playing CFS on line.
Installation
and Operation:
Just unzip the contents
of the zip file directly into your aircraft folder. Key "L" toggles
anti-collision lights and "/" activates the arrestor hook. Exhaust
manifold glows "at speed."
Where
do I go from Here – September of 1999?
As I have previously
said, I will never produce two or three planes a week like Bruno. I also head
up a small business, which needs my attention.
Here is a hint:
I am working on two
aircraft at the same time. The project is code-named: "A Couple of
Babes!"
After that, I also have
a realistic Hawker Hurricane Mk II(b) in desert colors in my "to do"
file!
And then there is the
Ira Kepford "Jolly Roger" Corsair . . .
I can see myself doing
a really interesting Spit . . .
We’ll see.
Life is short. Enjoy
yourselves.
Drop me a line and let
me know what you think of the "Kiwi Kittyhawk."
Joe Amodea
_CH_Jam
By all means, visit the Chaps Squadron at http://www.chaps.freeuk.com/
Version 2.0 Notes!
A wonderful P-40 panel
has been added to the package thanks to the creator, Jorge Alsina.
I have edited the air
file to correct aircraft placement on the runway and virtual pilot point of
view. Thanks to Glenn McDonald for
showing me how.
I have edited the
Damage Profile to eliminate the rockets and provide for three bombs. Thanks to Bruno Duffort for catching my
oversight and Jorge Alsina for his further assistance.
The aircraft package
now includes a scaled-up MDL in the Model.au folder as well as an ai
(non-flyable) air file and scaled up Damage Profile.
For Use with mission
design or Quick Combat, simply “call” for
P-40E_RNZAF folder and the correct scaled-up files will be automatically
selected. Thanks to Travis “Talon190”
Taylor for the idea. Thanks to William
Potvin II for developing the SetScale utilities.