Posted on 10/16/2015 9:39:46 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
PRESS RELEASE -Visitors to the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow next Easter will be treated to a display which has never been performed at any other airshow in the world.Auckland-based pilot Liz Needham will be at the controls of a P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft as she strafes the airfield with six x .50 caliber machine guns.The display was first performed at Warbirds Over Wanaka by Garth Hogan in 2008 followed by Frank Parker. Liz Needham, who is married to Frank, then performed the display in 2012.The P-40 aircraft was restored some years earlier by Garth Hogan and Charles Darby and the guns were later fitted by Paul McSweeny and his team from Pioneer Aero.
Paul says all they had to do was fit the guns and connect them electrically and they worked, all of the cockpit detail and plumbing and wiring for them was already fitted. “This just shows the lengths that Garth and Charles had gone to, to have the aircraft restored as close as possible to original specification,” says Paul.
Liz says the act is unique to Wanaka. “There is no other airshow in the world to have a P-40 firing guns. From the pilot’s point of view, firing the guns is a separate display to flying the aircraft. Gunner Ashford briefed me on how to fire the guns and the time to hold the trigger down for each burst. He also briefed me on the safety aspects of firing on the ground and in the air. We had a special ‘live firing’ of the guns on the ground for the Gold Pass stand for Sir Tim Wallis in 2012 which went down a treat,” says Liz.
(Excerpt) Read more at warbirdsnews.com ...
Now, THAT is going hot!
I always thought a P-40 was the “War Hawk.”
Nice to see privately held aircraft with title 2 firearms on them that isn’t owned by Dillon Aero ;)
That will be close to $5.00 a bang.
I’d be out there picking up the brass!
Awesome. Me likey! Maybe we should make sure shannon t watts and nannie bloomers get invites. Get out the smellin’ salts cause you know they’d faint.
Born in 1950, read and seen a lot about WWII planes and I never heard of a P-40 KittyHawk....live and learn, I guess.
You are right for the USAAF version. The export version was dubbed the “Kittyhawk” by the British.
P-40D's and later fighters lend leased to Commonwealth countries were called "Kittyhawks" by there recipients.
While the P-40 was labeled "Warhawk" by the government, it was rarely called that by it's pilots. They just called it the P-40.
I’m guessing there was some political/nostalgic pandering going on there! :0)
Obsolete or not, twin 50’s approaching from the air is still very formidable.
not twin...6...3 per wing
drooooool
They might shoot their eye out!
Not really. The British tended to formally name all their imports. They came up with the “Mustang” for the P-51 and “Liberator” for the B-24 too.
That is wicked! Old school firepower!
Never before heard the P40 called a Kittyhawk. War Hawk, alsways.
That would be SO much fun to watch!
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