Built by:	Clyde Lourensz
Kit:	1/48 Hasegawa P-40E Warhawk (JT86)
Kit Media:	Plastic
Modifications and Additions:	Built ‘Out Of Box’
Unit:	RAAF, 33rd PS (Prov)
Location:	Darwin, Australia, Feburary 1942
Pilot:	2nd Lt. R McMahon

Area of Operations

History

The rapid advances down through the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies by the Japanese put the Allies on the back foot. Most of Australia’s forces were in the UK and North Africa fighting the Germans and Italians and the US forces were in disarray.

P-40E fighters were delivered to Brisbane, Australia and assembled. A number of US provisional squadrons were stood up with the intent that they would transition to the Philippines via Darwin, Timor and Borneo to bypass the Japanese naval blockade. Most of the pilots were new recruits with few veteran pilots included and training on the P-40 resulted in a number of accidents and aircraft write-offs.

One such squadron was the 33rd PS (provisional) which was selected to travel to Perth to rendezvous with the carrier USS Langley, which would ferry them to the Philippines. They flew via Sydney, Canberra to Melbourne. It was here that they received a change of plans to fly north to Darwin via and Port Pirie north of Adelaide and from there to reinforce Java.

Navigation over such vast distances was not straight forward in 1942 and a number of aircraft suffered mechanical issues and couldn’t’ complete the journey. Of 15 aircraft only 10 made it to Darwin intact.

2nd Lt. Robert McMahon was one of the pilots with the 33rd PS (provisional) pilots that were making their way to Darwin. After a stop along the way at Daly Waters, McMahon clipped a tractor that had driven across the runway during his take-off. He decided to continue on the Darwin, however, the aircraft had sustained more damage than he realised and he crashed on landing.

He managed to repair a P-40E that had been abandoned by the 3rd PS (prov) when they departed north. This aircraft was christened “Bahootie the Cootie No II” and is the subject of this build. Unfortunately, it was damaged during a test flight and it is unsure if it flew again. McMahon repaired a second aircraft and prepared to fly to Timor.

On the 19th of February 1942 the Japanese launched the first of a long series of attacks on Darwin from the carriers Akaki, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu. The 33rd PS was caught in the middle of the attack as they were preparing to fly to Timor.

Four P-40s were already in the air and three were shot down. McMahon managed to take off and headed out over the harbour, but his aircraft was damaged and the undercarriage wouldn’t retract. After tangling with a Japanese aircraft, he bailed out and was rescued.

The 33rd PS (prov) lost four pilots killed, five injured and nine out of the ten P-40s destroyed.

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