A handful of nice five axis machine shop pictures I located:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: South hangar panorama, including Vought OS2U-three Kingfisher seaplane, B-29 Enola Gay, among other folks
Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought OS2U-three Kingfisher:
The Kingfisher was the U.S. Navy’s major ship-primarily based, scout and observation aircraft for the duration of Globe War II. Revolutionary spot welding methods gave it a smooth, non-buckling fuselage structure. Deflector plate flaps that hung from the wing’s trailing edge and spoiler-augmented ailerons functioned like additional flaps to allow slower landing speeds. Most OS2Us operated in the Pacific, where they rescued several downed airmen, including World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker and the crew of his B-17 Flying Fortress.
In March 1942, this airplane was assigned to the battleship USS Indiana. It later underwent a six-month overhaul in California, returned to Pearl Harbor, and rejoined the Indiana in March 1944. Lt. j.g. Rollin M. Batten Jr. was awarded the Navy Cross for generating a daring rescue in this airplane beneath heavy enemy fire on July four, 1944.
Transferred from the United States Navy.
Manufacturer:
Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division
Date:
1937
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 9 1/2in., 4122.6lb., 36ft 1 1/16in. (460 x 1030cm, 1870kg, 1100cm)
Supplies:
Wings covered with fabric aft of the principal spar
Physical Description:
Two-seat monoplane, deflector plate flaps hung from the trailing edge of the wing, ailerons drooped at low airspeeds to function like further flaps, spoilers.
• • • • •
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of Planet War II and the very first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although created to fight in the European theater, the B-29 discovered its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a assortment of aerial weapons: standard bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon utilized in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum close to Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Excellent Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.
Date:
1945
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 five/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished general aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish overall, standard late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on reduced left nose.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: South hangar panorama, including Vought OS2U-3 Kingfisher seaplane, B-29 Enola Gay, among other people
Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought OS2U-3 Kingfisher:
The Kingfisher was the U.S. Navy’s primary ship-primarily based, scout and observation aircraft throughout Globe War II. Revolutionary spot welding tactics gave it a smooth, non-buckling fuselage structure. Deflector plate flaps that hung from the wing’s trailing edge and spoiler-augmented ailerons functioned like additional flaps to let slower landing speeds. Most OS2Us operated in the Pacific, exactly where they rescued a lot of downed airmen, including Globe War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker and the crew of his B-17 Flying Fortress.
In March 1942, this airplane was assigned to the battleship USS Indiana. It later underwent a six-month overhaul in California, returned to Pearl Harbor, and rejoined the Indiana in March 1944. Lt. j.g. Rollin M. Batten Jr. was awarded the Navy Cross for creating a daring rescue in this airplane beneath heavy enemy fire on July 4, 1944.
Transferred from the United States Navy.
Manufacturer:
Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division
Date:
1937
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 9 1/2in., 4122.6lb., 36ft 1 1/16in. (460 x 1030cm, 1870kg, 1100cm)
Components:
Wings covered with fabric aft of the primary spar
Physical Description:
Two-seat monoplane, deflector plate flaps hung from the trailing edge of the wing, ailerons drooped at low airspeeds to function like further flaps, spoilers.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: primary hall panorama (P-40 et al)
Image by Chris Devers
See much more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia write-up.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):
Whether or not identified as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a effective, versatile fighter throughout the 1st half of Planet War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s "Flying Tigers" flew in China against the Japanese remain among the most well-known airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II when he shot down six Japanese aircraft in the Philippines in mid-December 1941.
Curtiss-Wright built this airplane as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk I in 1941. It served till 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. U.S. Air Force personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it in 1975 to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
Donated by the Exchange Club in Memory of Kellis Forbes.
Manufacturer:
Curtiss Aircraft Company
Date:
1939
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft four 13/16in.)
Materials:
All-metal, semi-monocoque
Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.
Long Description:
Whether or not it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 was a profitable and versatile fighter aircraft during the initial half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Basic Claire Chennault led against the Japanese stay amongst the most well-known airplanes of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of Globe War II whilst flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft for the duration of mid-December 1941. P-40s have been very first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the commence of the war but they soon gave way to far more sophisticated styles such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the very best all round fighters of the war but it was a rugged, powerful design and style obtainable in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently needed them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were constructed.
Design engineer Dr. Donovan R. Berlin layed the foundation for the P-40 in 1935 when he made the agile, but lightly-armed, P-36 fighter equipped with a radial, air-cooled engine. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation won a production contract for 210 P-36 airplanes in 1937-the biggest Army airplane contract awarded since Globe War I. Worldwide, fighter aircraft styles matured swiftly for the duration of the late 1930s and it was soon apparent that the P-36 was no match for newer European designs. Higher altitude overall performance in certain became a priceless commodity. Berlin attempted to boost the P-36 by redesigning it in to accommodate a turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710-11 inline, liquid-cooled engine. The new aircraft was designated the XP-37 but proved unpopular with pilots. The turbo-supercharger was not trustworthy and Berlin had placed the cockpit as well far back on the fuselage, restricting the view to the front of the fighter. Nonetheless, when the engine was not giving problems, the more-streamlined XP-37 was a lot more quickly than the P-36.
Curtiss tried once again in 1938. Berlin had modified another P-36 with a new Allison V-1710-19 engine. It was designated the XP-40 and first flew on October 14, 1938. The XP-40 looked promising and Curtiss supplied it to Army Air Corps leaders who evaluated the airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1939, along with numerous other fighter proposals. The P-40 won the competition, right after some modifications, and Curtiss received an order for 540. At this time, the armament package consisted of two .50 caliber machine guns in the fuselage and 4 .30 caliber machine guns in the wings.
After production started in March 1940, France ordered 140 P-40s but the British took delivery of these airplanes when Paris surrendered. The British named the aircraft Tomahawks but identified they performed poorly in high-altitude combat more than northern Europe and relegated them to low-altitude operations in North Africa. The Russians purchased far more than two,000 P-40s but details of their operational history remain obscure.
When the United States declared war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Corps’s front line fighter units. The plucky fighter ultimately saw combat in almost every theater of operations getting the most effective in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Of all the CBI groups that gained the most notoriety of the whole war, and remains to this day synonymous with the P-40, is the American Volunteer Group (AVG) or the Flying Tigers. The unit was organized following the Chinese gave former U. S. Army Air Corps Captain Claire Lee Chennault virtually 9 million dollars in 1940 to purchase aircraft and recruit pilots to fly against the Japanese. Chennault’s most critical assistance within the Chinese government came from Madam Chiang Kai-shek, a Lt. Colonel in the Chinese Air Force and for a time, the service’s general commander.
The cash from China diverted an order placed by the British Royal Air Force for 100 Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawks but purchasing airplanes was only a single essential step in generating a fighting air unit. Trained pilots were required, and quickly, as tensions across the Pacific escalated. On April 15, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt quietly signed an Executive Order permitting Chennault to recruit straight from the ranks of American military reserve pilots. Inside a handful of months, 350 flyers joined from pursuit (fighter), bomber, and patrol squadrons. In all, about half the pilots in the Flying Tigers came from the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps even though the Army Air Corps supplied 1-third. Factory test pilots at Bell, Consolidated, and other businesses, and industrial airline pilots, filled the remaining slots.
The Flying Tigers flew their initial mission on December 20. The unit’s name was derived from the ferocious fangs and teeth painted on the nose of AVG P-40s at either side of the distinctive, massive radiator air intake. The idea is mentioned to originate from photos in a magazine that showed Royal Air Force Tomahawks of No. 112 Squadron, operating in the western desert of North Africa, adorned with fangs and teeth painted about their air intakes. The Flying Tigers had been the 1st real opposition the Japanese military encountered. In significantly less than 7 months of action, AVG pilots destroyed about 115 Japanese aircraft and lost only 11 planes in air-to-air combat. The AVG disbanded on July four, 1942, and its assets, including a couple of pilots, became a element of the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) 23rd Fighter Group in the newly activated 14th Air Force. Chennault, now a Brigadier General, assumed command of the 14th AF and by war’s finish, the 23rd was one of the highest-scoring Army fighter groups.
As wartime expertise in the P-40 mounted, Curtiss made numerous modifications. Engineers added armor plate, far better self-sealing fuel tanks, and much more effective engines. They modified the cockpit to boost visibility and changed the armament package to six, wing-mounted, .50 caliber machine guns. The P-40E Kittyhawk was the very first model with this gun package and it entered service in time to serve in the AVG. The final model developed in quantity was the P-40N, the lightest P-40 built in quantity, and considerably faster than previous models. Curtiss constructed a single P-40Q. It was the quickest P-40 to fly (679 kph/422 mph) but it could not match the efficiency of the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang so Curtiss ended improvement of the P-40 series with this model. In addition to the AAF, many Allied nations purchased and flew P-40s which includes England, France, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Turkey.
The Smithsonian P-40E did not serve in the U. S. military. Curtiss-Wright constructed it in Buffalo, New York, as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk IA on March 11, 1941. It served in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When the Japanese navy moved to attack Midway, they sent a diversionary battle group to menace the Aleutian Islands. Canada moved No. 111 Squadron to Alaska to help defend the region. Right after the Japanese threat diminished, the unit returned to Canada and sooner or later transferred to England with no its P-40s. The RCAF declared the NASM Kittyhawk IA surplus on July 27, 1946, and the aircraft at some point returned to the United States. It had several owners just before ending up with the Explorer Scouts youth group in Meridian, Mississippi. During the early 1960s, the Smithsonian started browsing for a P-40 with a documented history of service in the AVG but located none. In 1964, the Exchange Club in Meridian donated the Kittyhawk IA to the National Aeronautical Collection, in memory of Mr. Kellis Forbes, a regional man devoted to Boys Club activities. A U. S. Air Force Reserve crew airlifted the fighter to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on March 13, 1964. Andrews personnel restored the airplane in 1975 and painted it to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
• • •
Quoting from Wikipedia | Curtiss P-40 Warhawk:
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that 1st flew in 1938. It was utilized by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers throughout Globe War II, and remained in front line service until the finish of the war. It was the third most-created American fighter, soon after the P-51 and P-47 by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been constructed, all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation‘s main production facility at Buffalo, New York.
The P-40 design was a modification of the earlier Curtiss P-36 this decreased development time and enabled a fast entry into production and operational service.
Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, generating it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces employed the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.
The P-40’s lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 or the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in high-altitude combat and it was hardly ever employed in operations in Northwest Europe. In between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in 3 significant theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a important function in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40’s performance at high altitudes was not as essential in these theaters, where it served as an air superiority fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber.
P-40s 1st saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force (DAF) in the Middle East and North African campaigns, in the course of June 1941. The Royal Air Force‘s No. 112 Squadron was amongst the initial to operate Tomahawks, in North Africa, and the unit was the very first to feature the "shark mouth" logo, copying comparable markings on some Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighters. [N 1]
Although it gained a post-war reputation as a mediocre style, suitable only for close air support, more current analysis which includes scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly effectively as an air superiority fighter, at occasions suffering serious losses, but also taking a really heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the added benefit of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground-attack fighter long soon after it was obsolete in the air superiority part.
As of 2008, 19 P-40s were airworthy.