By Randy Malmstrom
Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific airframes with a highly detailed series of walk-around images and an in-depth exploration of their history, which have proved to be popular with many of those who have seen them, and we thought our readers would be equally fascinated too. This installment of Randy’s Warbird Profiles takes a look at Curtiss P-40N Warhawk s/n 44-7192, which is presently on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.
This particular aircraft was built at the Curtiss factory in Buffalo, New York and was ferried to Tucson, Arizona in 1945 and only flew a total of about 60 hours. It was later on display at Griffith Park and then the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Doug Champlin acquired it in 1972 who had it restored by Dick Martin in 1979 and it was on display Champlin Flight Museum until purchased by Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, in 2000. It is painted in the colors of the Chinese-American Composite Wing and is named for “O’Reilly’s Daughter” (spelled here “O’Riley’s Daughter”), an Irish folk song that was used amongst British and Commonwealth forces and found its way as a drinking song amongst Allied forces. This will not be made airworthy or flown. My photos.
The P-40N was originally fitted with an Allison V-1710-81 but the P-40N-20-CU saw the introduction of the V-1710-99 engine. Armament went from four to six Browning .50 cal. machine guns. It has mechanical landing gear indicator rods in the wings. Disney studio artists Hank Porter, Roy Williams, Bill Justice, Van Kaufman, Ed Parks and George Goepper created more than 1,200 insignia for Allied aircraft, vehicles, vessels and bombs without any fees, including perhaps the most famous “Flying Tigers”). Disney studio artists Hank Porter, Roy Williams, Bill Justice, Van Kaufman, Ed Parks and George Goepper created more than 1,200 insignia for Allied aircraft, vehicles, vessels and bombs without any fees, including perhaps the most famous “Flying Tigers”).
About the author
Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types which flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and as such flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.
