P-40 Warhawk vs Bf 109: MTO 1942–44

Osprey Duel #38

by Carl Molesworth, Jim Laurier (Illustrator), Gareth Hector (Illustrator)

Although the P-40 and the Bf 109 both joined the air war over North Africa at nearly the same time in early 1941, the venerable German fighter was already fully sorted with a combat career dating back to 1937 in Spain, while the American fighter was making its combat debut in the hands of the RAF's Desert Air Force. Both aircraft were low-wing designs powered by a single liquid-cooled engine of roughly the same output, but there the similarities ended. The Bf 109 was small and agile, capable of operating at high altitudes. The P-40's weight and engine limited it to middle-altitude operations, but it was more manoeuvrable than the Bf 109 and extremely capable in the fighter-bomber role. In typical encounters, Bf 109 pilots would climb above a formation of P-40s and then dive into battle, seeking to maintain the initiative and a speed advantage. The P-40 pilots would respond by trying to turn into the attack. The tide turned in the autumn of 1942, by which time USAAF P-40 squadrons had joined the fight in time for the final Allied push from El Alamein and the Operation Torch landings in Morocco.

Genres: Aviation, History

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albeit a slim book, it provides interesting insights into the origins and characteristics of the P-40 Warhawk fighter (in its various variants) and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, which fought against each other from the Western Desert in 1941 to Italy in the summer of 1944. By that time, the P-40 (which, despite its ruggedness and reputation as a steady gun platform, was generally outclassed by the Bf 109) was phased out in favor of the superlative P-51 Mustang.

[Ben Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read

I enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting as usual. Reading about the fighters from both sides and the tactics they used was pretty cool. It was cool to read how they scored victories over one the other. If you like warbirds this’s for you.

[Nathan Trachta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this one and was a little blown away, not because I hadn’t thought about P-40s vs Bf-109’s, more because Mr. Molesworth was focusing on the American use of the P-40 Warhawks than on the British use; different but interesting (I’d known they were used in North Africa and Sciliy/Italy but hadn’t considered them engaging Bf-109s, sorry). As with all of the Duel series Mr. Molesworth tells us the story of the airplanes (development and then technical), the combatants that flew them, and the situation/combat/statistics. I was very impressed with the front half of this book; Mr. Molesworth provides excellent descriptions of the development and technical specification of both airframes and describing the training and organization of the combatants. The weakness in Mr. Molesworth’s presentation started to occur in in the Combat and Statistics sections when Mr. Molesworth addressed the RAF’s Desert Air Force’s use of Kittyhawks and Tomahawks. This is particularly driven home when looking at the statistics section where Luftwaffe kills of P-40s are listed with no delineation between RAF and USAAF; Mr. Molesworth does explain this limitation to the reader but to me it weakens the book to a 4 star book.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read with excellent artwork and photos. As usual a good introduction.