The Curtiss P-40 always punched above its weight. Except for the biplane-derived Grumman F4F, it was America's oldest frontline World War Ⅱ lighter, yet it remained in production-and combat-well alter far more sophisticated Mustangs, Corsairs and Thunderbolts had joined the fray. Only P-47s and P-51 s were built in greater quantities than P-40s, a thousand of which were ordered as late as the end of June 1944, almost a month after the Normandy invasion. Its 1930s greenhouse, awkward landing gear and mediocre Allison engine remained pretty much unchanged. P-40s were manufactured by the least-respected of all the major airframers, the East Coast Curtiss-Wright, with whom the War Department would have preferred not to do business after a series of below-par designs and a spate of defective Wright engines.
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