Built by:	Lee Ennis
Kit:	1/48 Academy P40-C Tomahawk (no. 12280)
Kit Media:	Plastic
Modifications and Additions:	Built ‘Out Of Box’
Unit:	3rd PS, AVG
Location:	Burma 1942
Pilot:	Tom Haywood (former USMC)

Area of Operations

History

The 3rd PS were known as the “Hell’s Angels”, with each aircraft being adorned with different figures each side of the cockpit, both being red female angels with white wings. No two angels held the same pose on any of the aircraft.

The commander of the AVG, Claire Chennault, considered the “Hell’s Angels” to be the most capable of the three squadrons and so, after the Japanese attack on the US, deployed them to Rangoon to aid the RAF in its defence. The 3rd PS first saw action on the 23rd of December.

The odds were against the 3rd PS and RAF with the Japanese able to launch 150 aircraft against 13 Tomahawks and 14 RAF Buffaloes on Christmas Day. Nevertheless, 25 Japanese aircraft were claimed destroyed. Constant action against such odds soon saw the 3rd PS rotated back to Kunming and replaced by the 2nd PS, which itself was soon reinforced by the 1st PS.

With the fall of Burma, the AVG found itself back in China where it continued to operate until it was disbanded and absorbed into the USAAF in July.

Number ‘49’ was originally a 2nd PS aircraft that was transferred to the 3rd PS and flown by Tom Haywood. It therefore didn’t receive the “Hell’s Angels” figures but is one of the aircraft to have the flying tiger decal, provided by Walt Disney in March 1942, applied to its fuselage. It is also one of the more photographed aircraft of the AVG.

Haywood finished his service with the AVG with 5.08 victories to his credit.

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