Berlin's Creation

Any P-40 fans reading this?

I hope so because you'll be seeing plenty of them here, starting with this... the Matriarch of the family... the XP-40, seen here during her first flight on October 14th, 1938 with Curtiss pilot Ed Elliot behind the stick.

Project 914 Archives (S.Donacik collection)

Only a couple years after its initial development, Curtiss designer Donovan Berlin knew that the Curtiss Model 75, designated P-36 by the USAAC, was quickly reaching the end of its development rope... primarily due to its being powered by a radial engine. (P-36s in USAAC service were powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp) So in July of 1937, Berlin ensured the continued development of the basic Model 75 design by taking a step in another direction... he put an Allison V-1710 inline engine onto the front of a P-36 (the tenth production P-36A, serial number 38-10) and the Model 75P, designated XP-40 by the USAAC, was born...


Fade to Black...