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* The Curtiss P-40 :
One of the most familiar aircraft of the Second World War was the famous Curtiss P-40. Originally flown in 1938, the first P-40 was actually a modified Curtiss P-36 using an inline Allison engine instead of the P-36's bulky radial type.
The improvement over the P-36 was clear. The plane had the same performance of a Hurricane or Messerschmitt. When the war broke out in Europe, France placed an order for the new Curtiss fighter, but these were diverted to England when the Germans overran France. The British, impressed by the performance of the P-40, placed an additional order of the Tomahawk, as it was now called.
The British quickly deployed some of the planes to North Africa, where the ground crews of the 112nd. Squadron painted under their noses the familiar shark mouth for the first time.

On the other hand, the Chinese, in need of a modern fighter to defend against the invading Japanese, received a shipment of the British Tomahawks, and with them the renowned Flying Tiger group was formed. This group, under the command of General Claire Chennault, was made of American volunteer pilots. Officially, they were known as the American Volunteer Group, or AVG. With them, the P-40 proved to be an excellent machine against the superior Japanese fighters.

This fighter had an excellent armor, high diving speed, good maneuverability, and heavy hitting power.
Although, the P-40 was not at its best in higher altitudes. Despite this, it was one of the most versatile fighters of the W.W.II.


* Brazil goes to war :
The indiscriminate submarine attacks carried by the Germans and Italians against Brazilian ships in the South Atlantic and even inside the Brazilian territorial waters, pushed the Brazilian government to evaluate several types of aircraft to put together an effective coastal surveillance. Finally, the only pre-war purchase was in the form of 30 North American NA-44, an armed export version of the T-6. Those, in fact, never served as fighters with the FAB, being employed as general purpose aircraft.

Preceding the declaration of hostilities, a gradual build up of the Brazilian Armed Forces was seen. Specially the Brazilian Air Force, at first through commercial purchases and domestic license production of some foreign types, and later, through Lend-Lease Defense Aid deliveries.

Brazil’s entry into the W.W.II became official on August 22 1942, but cooperation with the U.S. and other allied nations had been polite since 1939. After that, Lend - Lease brought new life to the FAB. A token force of fairly effective aircraft was dispatched from the U.S. to prevent an eventual leap across the South Atlantic to Brazil by the axis forces.
This delivery was conformed by 10 Curtiss RP-36As, two Douglas B-18s and six North American B-25s. Those formed the equipment of the Agrupamento de Aviões de Adaptação, a kind of operational training squadron, and were based at Fortaleza Air Base. This was the first modern fighter unit in the FAB, and its personnel later served as cadre, as the service expanded rapidly.

The Brazilian WarHawks :
After the arrival of these planes, Brazil was intended to receive 40 P-40Es under the Lend-Lease project No. B-85-A1, but this was apparently modified and never full acted upon. After that, project B-85-A1 was created to cover 41 P-40s of a mix of variants, while project B-905 covered six P-40E-1s that were actually delivered. Finally, project B-54448 was also canceled. It was intended to cover 10 more P-40s of mixed variants.

The first six P-40E-1s arrived in April 1942 and were serialled at first as 01 to 06 (and later 4020 to 4025), and in November of that same year, nine P-40Ks were delivered. From these, the three first planes were serialled 07 to 09, and other serials known included 52, 54, 57 and 58 as well as 113. In the first three months of 1943, another twenty P-40Ks arrived. It's assumed that the last three planes of the batch delivered in March suffered severe damage during the flight to Brazil, and never make it. Later, all the Ks were re serialled as 4026 to 4050, 4101, 4102, 4148 and 4149.

In February 1943, nine of a total of ten programmed P-40Ms arrived, being serialled 4051 to 4059. It seems that the tenth plane crashed during the flight from the states to the country.

In October 1944, two more P-40K-1s (42-6213 and 42-46294) were delivered under the Lend-Lease project B-54220, and both were quickly assigned to the Mechanics Training School. At least one of these had a very unusual sharkmouth painted on.

This force of P-40s quickly became the first line of defense for the country. By mid 1943, the FAB pilots had gained enough experience on the type, to the point of launching patrol flights for coastal defense, and relieved the U.S. Army Air Force in the task of protecting, at least, the Brazilian part of the South Atlantic. Most of this missions were flown from the air bases at Natal and Recife.

Finally, between September 1944 and March 1945, a batch 41 P-40Ns were delivered, and these became the final acquisition of the type. The Ns were serialled 4060 to 4100. To this date, only FAB 4064 remains at the Brazilian Aerospace Museum, at Campo dos Afonsos, Rio de Janeiro, sporting the color scheme used by the P-40s of the 1st. Squadron / 14th Aviation Group (1º/14º GAv).

The WarHawks served long and faithfully in FAB service, until 1954, when one of the planes broke apart in mid-air near Canoas Air Base. Right after that fatal accident, all of the P-40s were grounded. Later it was found that the K, M and N variants of the type used a larger wheel, so the wing spar had to be strengthened in order to accommodate heavier loads under the wings. Although, it was well known for Curtiss but FAB never received such information.

By January 1955, only 33 P-40s were airworthy, of which 16 were assigned to the 1º/14º GAv, being the only examples considered "combat ready" at the time. Later that year, all the P-40s were withdrawn from service.


* Color Schemes and markings :
During the war, the P-40Es wore two basic schemes, being the first of them identical to the one used by the British P-40s, and in fact, some of them were diverted from British orders. These P-40s were finished in Dark Green, Dark Earth camouflage in the upper wings and fuselage, and Sky in the underside. The rest wore the ‘classic’ USAAC color scheme of Olive Drab in the upper wings and fuselage and Neutral Gray in the underside. In both cases, the planes wore very nicely shaped sharkmouths, identical to those wore by the Flying Tigers in China.

The P-40Ks and Ms were finished in Olive Drab and Neutral Gray with the U.S. BuNo or two or three digits, allocated individually by the units which operated the aircraft, painted on the vertical stabilizer. At least one of the P-40Ms wore a sharkmouth. All the variants sported the FAB insignia in six positions, but without the green-yellow vertical bands along the rudder.

On the other hand, the P-40Ns used by the 1st squadron of the 14th Aviation Group (1º/14º GAv) after 1947, were finished in natural metal with black anti-glare areas painted over the nose. The rudder had the green-yellow bands. The FAB insignia was sported in four positions.

It is worth mentioning that after the W.W.II almost all of the P-40s were stripped down to bare metal, with all camouflage removed. Although, not all units at the same time.

Sources :

Books :
Dan Hagedorn, "Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, The Final Chapter: Latin American Air Forces Service"
Phalanx, St. Paul.

F.C. Pereira Netto, "Aviação Militar Brasileira 1916 - 1984"
Editora Revista Aeronáutica, Rio de Janeiro, 1984