Home > Combat Aircraft > Hobby Master > Hobby Master Diecast Military Aircraft (1:72 Scale) > World War II Military Aircraft > Curtiss P-40 Fighters >

Chinese Air Force Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Fighter - Wang Kuang Fu, 7th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, Laohokow, China, Jan 1945 (1:72 Scale)
Chinese Air Force Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Fighter - Wang Kuang Fu, 7th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, Laohokow, China, Jan 1945

Hobby Master Chinese Air Force Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Fighter - Wang Kuang Fu, 7th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, Laohokow, China, Jan 1945




 
List Price: $74.99
Our Price: $69.99 Sold Out!
You save $5.00!
You'll earn: 70 points

Stock Status: (Out of Stock)


Availability: Currently Unavailable
Product Code: HA5501

Description Extended Information
 
Hobby Master HA5501 Chinese Air Force Curtiss P-40N Warhawk Fighter - Wang Kuang Fu, 7th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, Laohokow, China, Jan 1945 (1:72 Scale) "Flying is hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror."
- Greg "Pappy" Boyington

The P-40 was the best known Curtiss-Wright designed airplane of the Second World War. It was also one of the most controversial fighters, vilified by many as being too slow, lacking in maneuverability, having too low a climbing rate, and being largely obsolescent by contemporary standards even before it went into production. The inadequacies of the P-40 were even the subject of a Congressional investigation after the War ended.

While these criticisms were certainly valid, it is also true that the P-40 served its country well, especially in China and Burma, during the opening phase of the War in the Pacific when little else was available to the US Army Air Corps. Along with the P-39 Airacobra, the P-40 was the only American fighter available in quantity to confront the Japanese advance until more modern aircraft could be delivered to frontline squadrons.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Chinese Air Force Curtiss P-40N Warhawk fighter that was piloted by Wang Kuang Fu, who was attached to the 7th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, then deployed to Laohokow, China, during January 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 6-inches
Length: 5-inches

Release Date: April 2017

Historical Account: "ROCAF" - The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) was formed by the Kuomintang after the establishment of the Aviation Ministry in 1920. As tensions mounted between China and Imperial Japan in the 1930s, a number of smaller Chinese warlord airforce men (including Guangdong Provincial Air Force) and equipment became integrated into the ROCAF in a centralized effort to counter Imperial Japanese military ambitions.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the ROCAF participated in attacks on Japanese warships on the eastern front and along the Yangtze river and interdiction and close-air support during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937. The initially Chinese frontline fighter aircraft were mainly Curtiss Hawk IIs and IIIs and Boeing P-26Cs. These engaged Japanese fighters in many major air battles beginning on August 14th, 1937, when Imperial Japanese Navy warplanes raided Chienchiao airbase; "814" has thus become known as "Air Force Day". Chinese Boeing P-26/281 fighters engaged Japanese Mitsubishi A5M fighters in the world's first dogfight between all-metal monoplane fighters. A unique mission in April 1938 saw two Chinese Martin B-10 bombers fly a mission over Japan, dropping only anti-war leaflets over the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Saga. It was a war of attrition for the Chinese pilots, as many of their most experienced ace fighter pilots, such as Lieutenant Liu Tsui-Kang and Colonel Kao Chih-Hang, were lost. Six months into the war, which is considered the beginning of World War II in Asia, the Chinese Air Force inventory of frontline American Hawk IIs and IIIss and P-26Cs were superseded by faster and better armed Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s as support from the Soviet Union grew and American support faded.

Through attrition and loss of their most experienced fighter pilots in the first half of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Republic of China Air Force ultimately suffered irreversible losses in combat against the Japanese, and by the beginning of 1942 the ROCAF was practically annihilated by Japanese aircraft, particularly with the introduction of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. The ROCAF was eventually supplemented with the establishment of the American Volunteer Group (known as the "Flying Tigers") with heavily armed and armored Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, and subsequently rebuilt each year following Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor with new aid and vigor from the United States.

The Sino-Japanese War started on July 7th, 1937. At that time, Chinese sources estimated the Japanese could field approximately 600 aircraft (from a total of 1,530) against China's 230 combat aircraft. During the first phase up to 1939, aerial bombing of enemy bomber formations was tried with indifferent results, and leaflet-dropping raids carried out over Japanese cities.

The Japanese bombing raids were also fiercely contested, sometimes with significant Japanese losses. After suffering heavy losses in the Battle of Wuhan in October 1938, most air force units were withdrawn for reorganization and training.

The ROC Air Force was reconstituted into seven Groups, one separate Squadron and four Volunteer Groups. In 1939, after the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany, the Soviet Volunteer Group was withdrawn. By the end of 1941, the air force had 364 operational aircraft. Up to 100 of these were P-40Bs operated by the American Volunteer Group. U.S. replacement aircraft began to arrive in March 1942. They included A-29s, P-40s, P-43s, and P-66s, and in 1945 B-25 Mitchell, B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, and P-51B and -D fighters.

Features
  • Diecast metal construction
  • Ability to display the model with landing gear in either extended or retracted mode
  • Realistic paint scheme with authentic insignia
  • Display stand

Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review

Browse for more products in the same category as this item:

Combat Aircraft > Hobby Master > Hobby Master Diecast Military Aircraft (1:72 Scale) > World War II Military Aircraft > Curtiss P-40 Fighters
Aircraft Hangar > WWII: The China, Burma, India Theatre