This Hawk was built as a P-40F and served with the 44th Fighter Squadron in the SWPA.
On December 22nd, 1942 four 44th FS pilots, including 2Lt. George 'Ed' Talbot in 41-14205,
departed Bauerfield Airfield on Efate Island for a training mission. The flight ran into
severe weather, running low on fuel as result, and a forced-landing was made by all four pilots
on Mount Santop on Erromango Island, New Hebrides. None of the pilots sustained any
major injuries, but this ship and another, P-40F 41-14112, were both heavily damaged.



Project 914 Archives


Project 914 Archives - Larger Image

The wreckage of 41-14205 was recovered in 1989 by Australians Ian Whitney and Robert
Greinert. Whitney owned the aircraft until passing it on to another Australian, Graham
Hoskings, in 1991. Hoskings did some restoration work on the Hawk, but eventually traded
it to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in 1996 for an F4U Corsair. As the RNZAF did
not operate P-40Fs, it was decided to restore her as a P-40E. The lengthy restoration job
began in 1997 and came to an eagerly-awaited end in May of 2013. To quote an official post
made on the museum's Facebook page: "The aircraft is painted to represent a generic RNZAF
P-40 Kittyhawk in Pacific theatre colours, and has been given the display identity of NZ3000".

You can view the entry for 41-14205 in WRG's Warbird Registry HERE.

Courtesy of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Larger Image


Courtesy of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Larger Image

Beautiful view of this Hawk as displayed inside the museum, captured by Bernard Spragg.

See more of Bernard's photos HERE.


B. Spragg photo - Larger Image



Photographer Unknown - Image Source - Larger Image

The following photos show the progress of 41-14205's restoration in 2004.


K.Ferrand photo - Larger Image


K.Ferrand photo - Larger Image


K.Ferrand photo - Larger Image


K.Ferrand photo - Larger Image


K.Ferrand photo - Larger Image

John Panoski documented 41-14205's restoration progress in November of 2011.
More photos HERE...


John Panoski photo - Larger Image

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