A Mother Hen and Her Chicks

Sunday, March 23rd, 1941... vast crowds gather at Tulsa Municipal Airport to see nine P-40Bs that had
spent the weekend there, as well as a single Consolidated LB-30 which had stopped for the day.

At this time, the reason for the presence of these P-40s in Tulsa is unknown to me, although I suspect that
this was a refueling stop during a cross-country flight... perhaps a delivery flight to a fighter outfit on
the West coast, as these ships look more or less factory-fresh and wear no unit or flight markings of any sort.
Another possibility is that these ships may have been bound for the Philippines but I'd have to dig more on that,
as I do not know if they flew cross-country before being loaded onto ships or if they were shipped from the East coast.

The LB-30 was also undoubtedly on a cross-country flight, with a possible final destination of New York being
mentioned in the newspaper article shown below. Additionally, its stop in Tulsa was probably connected to the new
Douglas factory that was to be built, which would produce the B-24 under license in the coming years.

Also seen in the photo, off to the left, is what I believe to be a Lockheed Model 10 'Electra'.



Project 914 Archives (S. Donacik collection) - Larger Image

The following photos and newspaper clipping documenting the event are from the Tulsa Air and Space
Museum Archives and are included here with the kind permission of Kevin Gray.


Tulsa Air and Space Museum (Rotated Image)


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum


Tulsa Air and Space Museum

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