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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 1, 2020 21:13:37 GMT 12
Great footage - seems to be Espiritu Santo
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Post by davidd on Mar 1, 2020 21:58:55 GMT 12
Agree that it looks more like Santo, although such guesses can be fraught with peril! I first thought they might be P-40E's, but no, they appear to be K's with that type of camouflage and the long fuselage, also the flared exhausts. The cowling numbers are very low too, but the white tails only appeared in September 1943, so in all probability taken at Santo after the withdrawal of the K's from the front line to the rear base, despite all the talk of shooing down Zeroes. Nevertheless a rare (if brief) nod to the honest erks working under the tropical sun. Also perhaps a bit of unintended humour, with a tin prominently marked "Mixed Nuts" near beginning of film; this tin was no doubt originally intended for (American) edible nuts, but may contain metal ones (or something completely different) on the flight line.
David D
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Post by tbf25o4 on Mar 2, 2020 9:08:49 GMT 12
Were my eyes seeing correctly? At 40seconds in there is a pic of an airman standing by the starboard right main wheel and on the engine cowl behind him there is the figure "8" while on the gear fairing
the figure "9" is painted. Confusing markings or a change of cowls perhaps?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 2, 2020 12:31:10 GMT 12
I thought exactly the same thing about the 8 and 9 markings Paul.
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Post by davidd on Mar 2, 2020 15:02:38 GMT 12
I was rather surprised that the first P-40 shown on this clip almost certainly retains a rather large red centre to its fuselage roundel, while aircraft appearing later on the film definitely have smaller blue centres. Also that close up of the aircraft with "clashing code numbers" seems to have a very "mucked about" paint scheme, looks as though a fresh coat has been applied on radiator cowl and some over-painting onto the black code number has occurred. If this film was exposed at Espiritu Santo, then most likely the SU personnel (and aircraft) were on the strength of 1SU by this time. Unfortunately the Unit History of 1 SU during this period is pretty skimpy, and only commences in December 1943 - it does mention individual aircraft by serial number, but nothing about codes and colours.
David D
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Post by 30sqnatc on Mar 2, 2020 17:01:16 GMT 12
Were my eyes seeing correctly? At 40seconds in there is a pic of an airman standing by the starboard right main wheel and on the engine cowl behind him there is the figure "8" while on the gear fairing the figure "9" is painted. Confusing markings or a change of cowls perhaps? Build by numbers. But seriously with wing swaps contradictory numbering to be expected.  Untitled-17 by tankienz, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 2, 2020 18:47:27 GMT 12
In that scene with the 8/9 anomaly it actually looks like the wing might be being fitted to the fuselage? There are no fairings o the wing root. So you may be right Paul about a wing swap?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 2, 2020 19:00:47 GMT 12
If this film was exposed at Espiritu Santo, then most likely the SU personnel (and aircraft) were on the strength of 1SU by this time. At what point in time did No. 1 Servicing Unit move to Guadalcanal? They were up there by January 1944. |
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Post by harvard1041 on Mar 2, 2020 20:19:51 GMT 12
Actually there are some (ex-Tonga) P-40Es here... horizontal distributors, early style exhaust stacks, early canopy.... wonderful video  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 2, 2020 23:31:05 GMT 12
I was going to suggest they may be ex-Tongan P-40E's but thought I'd get laughed at.
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Post by davidd on Mar 3, 2020 13:09:33 GMT 12
Ah, I missed the P-40E (saw those exhausts when I looked again). Actually that is a really good thing, as this confirms the film was exposed at Pallikulo (also known as Bomber I, Espiritu Santo), as those Tongan P-40Es never got further north than this. The personnel of 1 and 2 SUs were "swapped" at beginning of October 1943 over a two day period (2nd and 3rd October); I believe most of the RNZAF's few C-47's were utilised for this job, running a two-way shuttle service between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal. As both units (in fact they were still designated Fighter Maintenance Units at this time rather than Servicing Units) I believe numbered about 190 personnel at this time, and each man had to take all his kit with him, so I presume that about 20 men maximum would fill each aircraft.
At this point in time (change-over of personnel) at Guadalcanal, the 2 FMU fleet (17 Squadron) comprised about 12 P-40Ms, perhaps just two K's, and five P-40Ns, with several other N's already en route from NZ, and eight more about to depart from New Zealand (arrived Santo 9/10/43). No. 4 FMU (15 Squadron) was also at Guadalcanal by this time, with a full fleet of 22 new P-40Ns. At Espiritu Santo (now 1 FMU, 18 Squadron) would be a motley fleet of E's (13, not all serviceable), K's (also 13), and M's (just 2), plus some P-40Ns being ferried north to Guadalcanal. Because of heavy operational "attrition" in the combat area, quite substantial groups of new aircraft were being ferried north from New Zealand at least once a month to keep the front line fleets up to full strength - it was probably harder to keep pilots (and sometimes the ground staff) at full strength, due to harsh conditions at the forward bases (injuries, disease, poor food).
David D
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