p-40 warhawk

Built by Curtiss and flown by every Allied country with an air force, the P-40 Warhawk is one of the most iconic and influential American aircraft ever produced, for both engineering and cultural reasons.

Despite being inferior in speed and altitude performance to most frontline aircraft when the United States entered World War II, the P-40 was famous for punching above its weight. The P-40 was tough, easy to fly and could outdive fighters six years newer and fifteen thousand dollars more expensive - strengths that were exploited by the famous "Flying Tigers", who exclusively flew P-40s.

But much more importantly the P-40 was culturally influential. Those Flying Tigers became an important propaganda tool for the United States, and the shark-teeth warpaint that adorned their P-40s had been copied an innumerable amount of times on any aircraft on any country- including, ironically, Japan.