Fighter Factory

This P-40E was originally manufactured by Curtiss in Buffalo, New York during 1941 with the production number of 1025. It was delivered to the United States Army Air Corps which assigned its serial number 41-35918. It was later transferred to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease Program where the RAF changed its registration to ET-564. Great Britain subsequently passed the aircraft to the Soviet Union where it was assigned to a Soviet squadron in the Murmansk region of Northern Russia to defend the homeland from the German invasion launched from Norway.

The aircraft was lost in action near the Arctic Circle and lay abandoned in the frozen tundra for fifty years. It was occasionally vandalized by local inhabitants of this remote region who used anything of value like scrap metal and wiring. In 1992 this P-40 was recovered and brought to the United States when it was acquired by Jerry Yagen's Fighter Factory in 1996.

Restoration work began almost immediately where preliminary reconstruction work was done at the Virginia facility. Eventually the project was subcontracted to Pioneer Avspec in New Zealand that had prior experience with two similar airplanes. After completion, this rare and historic P-40E had its first test flight in over 50 years on April 14, 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand. It was displayed at a local airshow before being shipped back to Virginia.

The paint scheme design selected for the E model aircraft was identical to that of one of the airplanes delivered to the Flying Tigers to replace the obsolete earlier P40-B and C models used by the AVG shortly after Pearl Harbor.

On May 7, 1942 Colonel Claire Chennault ordered the Flying Tigers on a mission to destroy a pontoon bridge built by the Japanese that would have allowed them to advance into Kunming, China. Squadron Leader David Lee "Tex" Hill flew his Curtiss P-40E with its number "108" while leading this famous mission on the Salween River Gorge.

Once the bridge was destroyed the Japanese were trapped in the gorge and had no escape from the bombs and machine-gun fire of the AVG P-40s. The Japanese were forced to retreat and eventually, with their forces severely weakened, the threat to Southern China quickly faded. Tex Hill ended the war with 10 1/4 confirmed victories while flying with the American Volunteer Group and was squadron leader of the 2nd Pursuit Squadron known as the Panda Bears.

On July 4, 1942 the AVG disbanded and Tex was one of the original Flying Tigers to join the USAF with the rank of major. He led the 23rd fighter Group during his second tour of duty and finished his career as a general in the Texas Air National Guard. This P-40 bears Tex's autograph which he signed at Sun-N-Fun in April, 2004.

By Frank Schaufler and Seth Goltzer