Another
Sport25ing suggestion was for the Southern Rhodesia Air Force during WW2. The RW No. 1 (SRAF) Squadron (later No.237 Sqn) left East Africa to go to Egypt, trading their Hawker
Hardy army co-operation biplanes for
Hurricanes. But, in my AltHis, I have No. 1 (SRAF) staying south until the conclusion of the East Africa campaign.
In Kenya, the worn-out
Hardys were exchanged for Curtiss
Tomahawks but the origin of those fighters is a bit of a mystery. [1] Apparently
Tomahawk Mk.Is, these aircraft had equipment to USAAC standards but were delivered without armament. Once unloaded at Mombasa, the
Tomahawks were assembled at RAF Port Reitz and fitted with a quartet of .303-inch Browning wing guns. Thence, they were dispatched to No.1 (SRAF) based at RAF Wajir in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya.
Top A SRAF
Tomahawk with markings only partially applied.
Tomahawk 'A' was the personal mount of No.1's commander, Sqn Ldr Lawrence E. Daly. On his first
Tomahawk mission, 'A' was lost due to fuel contamination. The luckless Daly came down in the thorn scrub on the Italian side of the lines and was captured.
Daly's aircraft had a lion's face marked on its nose along with the name
Shumba.
Tomahawk 'A' was fitted with synchronized cowl guns - twin .303-inch Vickers Mk IIIs taken from retired
Hardys. Note Daly's command pennant (inset) and that his aircraft's code letters have only recently been chaulked on.
Bottom SRAF
Tomahawk 'F' was the mount of F/Sgt Peter Cline. Here, the individual aircraft letter has been obscured by a newly-applied fuselage band.
Tomahawk 'F' had no personal markings other than the name '
Tanaka'. [2] In order to reduce wind-resistance, empty cowl gun blast tubes have been blocked-off with 'Broom Stick Mk.Is'.
In this aircraft, F/Sgt Cline shot down the Italian ace fighter pilot,
maresciallo (W/O) Giuseppe Mottet on 22 November 1941. Mottet was caught while taking off from Azozo airfield south of Gondar. Attempting to regain his airfield, Mottet's stricken Fiat CR.42 came down beside the Metemma-Gondar road.
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[1] The likely explanation is that these were USAAC P-40Bs meant for the AVG. At some point on their journey to Rangoon, these fighters were diverted to Mombasa for Commonwealth use. That would explain what appears to be RAF Middle Stone applied over USAAC Oliver Drab. The undersides are RAF Azure Blue.
[2] A term of endearment,
tanaka is a Shona name meaning something like "being in a state of beauty". The name
Shumba applied to Sqn Ldr Daly's
Tomahawk is another word from the Shona language of eastern Rhodesia - in this case, just meaning 'lion'.
These profiles began as a Pearl Harbor P-40 by 'Gaëtan Marie' (Bertrand Brown).
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http://www.gaetanmarie.com/curtiss-p-40-warhawk/