On May 12, 2024, Curtiss P-40E Warhawk USAAF #41-13570 (OO-WHK) flew for the first time under Belgian ownership. The flight took place at the Stampe Fly-In at Antwerp International Airport (Deurne) which is home of the Stampe and Vertongen Museum.
For a historical recap, some readers may recall that this P-40E served with the Soviet Air Forces during what the Soviets called “The Great Patriotic War” under Lend-Lease. It first flew in late 1941, with the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) and was formally accepted on January 23rd, 1942. Once in the in the Soviet Union, the fighter moved to Murmashi, just south of Murmansk, where she became a part of the Soviet 14th Army with the locally based 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (GvIAP) whose duties were to cover the Kola Peninsula and Murmansk. In the early hours of June 1st, 1942, Jr. Lt. A. V. Pshenev Kittyhawk was at the controls of this aircraft flying alongside P-39s and P-40s from the 19 GvIAP to escort Tupolev SB bombers on a mission to attack a German-held airfield at Petsamo.
They encountered heavy opposition from the Luftwaffe, tangling with Messerschmitt Bf 109s of II/JG5 near Pja Ozero just west of Murmansk. During the melee, Pshenev’s P-40 received hits to its engine, which rapidly began to overheat. The pilot decided to ditch the aircraft in Lake Kod Ozero, rather than risk the uncertainty of putting her down in the obstacle-strewn tundra nearby. Pshenev survived the heavy impact as his P-40 down-struck the still semi-frozen lake surface, and made it safely to shore, likely imagining that his now-sinking P-40, was gone forever, but amazingly, on August 31st, 1997 a recovery team raised the P-40 from the lake. The bedraggled though largely intact airframe initially went to a British collector, but over the next few decades the project passed between a number of different owners and restoration shops before landing at Pioneer Aero in Auckland, New Zealand in 2015.
During the restoration, the aircraft was converted to a dual-control trainer. On May 14th, 2021 it was given the New Zealand registration ZK-MOM for the test flying program, and on November 11th of that year the P-40E made its first successful test flight. On August 11th, 2022 the New Zealand registration was canceled and the aircraft was disassembled, and shipped to FAST Aero at Brasschaat, Belgium for some finishing touches before going to its new owner.
The aircraft was registered F-AYKH on September 23rd, 2023, and was first shown to the public the next day at the Flying Festival at Brasschaat. Over the winter work continued on the aircraft and on March 6th, 2024 the first local test flight was made as F-AYKH, but at that point, the Italian owner, Claudio Coltri, had changed his mind and the aircraft was offered for sale and was acquired by a new Belgian owner. The French registration was canceled on April 30th, 2024 and it received the Belgian registration OO-WHK that was reserved a few days earlier on April 26th.
Many thanks to LH Aviation Photography for allowing the use of the photos. For more great photos of European aviation, click HERE.
I am sad to see they added a Jump seat altering this important artifact of history. And why not paint it back to its Russian Lend-Lease Markings… At least it does’nt have a Shark mouth painted on the cowling, yet.
Because if you read the article it’s not a jump seat, but has been converted to a dual control trainer …..
That’s even worse what a petty
Yes… ‘dual controlled trainer’ which also doubles as a jump seat for any paying passenger. But you can hardly blame the owner / operator… I suppose necessary to recoup their investment after a very expensive restoration.
Sorry pal, there is no such thing as “recoup the investment” here. The normal renumeration, if any, for a ride helps cover your fuel bill…
The aircraft is privately owned, and reflects the increasing interest in single-seat fighters being converted to two seat aircraft enabling pleasure flights. That is the owner’s prerogative. People may offer their opinion here. Those wishing to comment on this site are reminded to post in a respectful manner.
The P-40 is my favorite WWII aircraft. Although outclassed by frontline German, Italian, and zjapanese fighters, it helped to hold the line in Europe and the Pacific until the Allied powers could field more advanced machines. Regarding the “shark nose” comment, as a “Yank” I’m reluctant to admit it, but the shark nose first appeared on RAF P-40’s on North Africa in 1940-41. It is still the most iconic nose art for that particular aircraft, no matter who originally invented it.
My names is James Goode and I did the initial restoration work in the United States before she was sent to NewZeland for completion. I agree whole heartedly that she should have been returned to her Russian VVS livery of White 51 especially since no American markings were ever applied to her. She was only painted with the red stars on the tail and lower wings only and with her verifiable combat record that’s the way I was going to go. She even had several holes from her last sortie that I was not going to patch including an approximately 8-10 inch long one in the upper left engine cowl from a very shallow angle of penetration meaning the ME-109 was right on her tail. As far as the two seat modification goes I believe it’s necessary to have these modified airplanes in the small surviving fleet. I’ve heard great stories and horror stories of “First Flights” in single seat warbirds from pilots who were trained up in T-6s and turned loose in their new P-51 / P-40 / etc. and were lucky to not destroy their piece of history in their first 30 minutes. If we’re going to keep any of these pieces of history, it’s important to be able to train in them and from what I’ve seen of this restoration they’re able to reinstall the cutouts at the rear glass so you can’t even tell that she’s got a back seat in her. Kudos for that. They did a beautiful job finishing her up and I regret never having a chance to see or fly her before she made it to the other side of the world. Maybe someday…..