Navy and the British Royal Navy (as the “Martlet”). The Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter built by Grumman that entered service in 1940 with the U.S. It returned to the skies after extensive reconstruction in 2003.

The MAM’s P-40 was built in 1941, and was sent to Great Britain, then on to the Soviet Union to a squadron near Murmansk where it was lost in action and restored 50 years later. The P-40 was almost obsolete at the beginning of the war, but with the right tactics, it was still capable of great impact. all P-40’s were “Warhawks”, but later variants were called “Kittyhawks” by other nations. Our aircraft carries the livery of AVG legend “Tex” Hill. As one of few fighters available at the beginning of the war, they were sent under lend-lease to Britain and the Soviet Union as well as serving famously with the American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers. The Curtis P-40, first flown in 1938, saw service in most WWII theaters. 50 cal MGs, 8 x H.V.A.R rockets, 2 x 1,000 lbs. The “Skull and Bones” livery is that of Norfolk-born Ray Beacham, who flew with the famous VF-17 in the Pacific.Īrmament: 6 x. MAM’s Corsair was delivered in May of 1945, and spent much of it’s military career in storage, being one of the lowest time Corsairs known.

Greg Boyington and the “Black Sheep” Squadron of television fame. Known to pilots as “hose-nose” and to the Japanese as “Whistling Death”, the Corsair had birthing difficulties as a carrier-based aircraft, but saw immediate success as a ground-based fighter as popularized by Maj. Designed by the Vought Aircraft Company, demand was such that production was also licensed to Goodyear and Brewster. One of the most powerful and unique fighter aircraft of the war is undoubtedly the instantly recognizable “gull-wing” Corsair. and retired as Professor Emeritus at the University of Va.Īrmament: 12 Browning. The livery is that of Pilot Officer John Kenneth Haviland, the only U.S.-born RAF pilot who flew in the Battle of Britain that survived the war. The MAM Hurricane was built in 1943 as one of the 1,451 planes built in Canada, and it is almost completely in it’s original condition. During the Battle of Britain, when that country fought alone against expected invasion, the Hurricane was flying in greater numbers than the more popular Spitfire, and accounted for 80% of enemy planes destroyed. It could be argued that Britain would have lost the war in 1940 without this plane. The Hawker Hurricane was originally designed in 1934 as an updated monoplane version of the Hawker Fury (also in the MAM collection).

Fighter factory 3