The Curtiss P-40 is one of the iconic U.S. aircraft of W.W. II with volumes of heroic history.
Far less well documented is one small sub-type, The Curtiss P-40B/S.
Curtiss had offered a simplified P-36 with fixed, spatted landing gear for export and many became well known.
These aircraft were bought by countries with less sophisticated air arms and sold well enough that Curtiss continued the trend with the P-40B/S. Whether the S stood for Spats or Simplified is unknown, this bit of trivia having been lost over time.
In the end, Curtiss only made five of these spatted wonders which were sold to Upper Volta. After the tiny nation was over-run by Axis forces, the aircraft were diverted to Hawaii and assigned to the U.S. Army Air Corps who found little use for them. Only one was ever serviceable anyway as two had been damaged beyond repair during off-loading and the other two were used as Hangar Queens to keep the last one flying. Even then, it practically never flew. This would all change on December 7th, 1941.
On that fateful day, America entered the war when the enemy launched a surprise attack.
The lone Curtiss P-40B/S was called to duty as one of the few air-worthy U.S. Army pursuits available.
While it actually never fired its guns in anger that day, it did successfully evacuate the Air Intelligence Officer from Hallelujah Field which also panicked local air defense who mistook it for an enemy due to its incredibly intimidating, spatted landing gear.
Unfortunately that action would be its last as all the P-40B/Ss were quickly cannibalized for parts needed to repair more up-to-date aircraft. None survive today and this once proud Hawaii Evacuator is all but forgotten by 'real' historians.
Brian da Basher