P-40B/C Armor Plate

[D Bellis]

Looking for pics, blueprints or anything else showing the armor plate as installed behind the pilot's seat in the P-40B/C/Hawk 81. 

 

Unfortunately, the Great Wall and Trumpeter kits do not include parts to represent that plate, nor do any of the aftermarket cockpit sets. 

 

I've been casually searching for info on that armor plate for years, but haven't found anything substantial enough to model it. 

 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

D

[Dpgsbody55]

I can't speak for the Trumpeter kits, but the GWH kit is of a plane that is a very early Hawk 81, and it may not have any.

 

The back wall of the cockpit tub depicts a plane that was not fitted with armour plate which was very common of what was at the time existing pre-war American fighters.  Armour plate may have been fashioned in the field and attached somehow, as was armour glass for the windscreen.  Some of the surviving AVG pilots described this quite clearly.  Armour plate and glass only became a thing on P-40B and C models once these planes were sent to the front in light of experience by the first AVG pilots and an understanding was gained of conditions in Europe.

 

I think the rear wall of the cockpit tub would have been largely fabricated from heavy gauge steel or armour plate once the requirement was understood.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[airscale]

one of these should be it..

 

 

 

 

 

Peter

 

 

[BiggTim]

8 hours ago, airscale said:

one of these should be it..

 

 

 

 

 

Peter

 

 

The last two are for the P-40N, so I don't think those will help you. I've been spending lots of time on Aircorps Library looking at those very drawings.....

[D Bellis]

10 hours ago, Dpgsbody55 said:

Armour plate may have been fashioned in the field and attached somehow, as was armour glass for the windscreen.

The AVG Hawk 81-A2s were delivered from the factory with cockpit armor, self-sealing tanks, interior windshield armor and floor-mounted reflector gunsights. All of which were supposedly only fitted to the P-40C. However, the AVG machines lacked the drop tank plumbing/fittings also associated with the C, which makes the AVG machines unique. 

 

9 hours ago, airscale said:

one of these should be it..

Thanks for posting those! But all of them apply to later variants. 

 

D

[waroff]

armor plates on fuselage frame 5

blue; headrest armor plate, 9mm 

red; armor plate seat back 7mm (when the armor plate was not fitted (P40, P40G) a curtain close the frame

 

 

[D Bellis]

Outstanding. Thank you!

 

D

[Finn]

Not the best quality but the plate being removed:

 

 

Jari

[LSP_Ray]

Here is a better pic of that same TO:

[D Bellis]

2 hours ago, Finn said:

the plate being removed:

 

1 hour ago, LSP_Ray said:

Here is a better pic of that same TO:

Thanks, but those show the armor plate being removed from a P-40D or later, which is vastly different from the armor used in the B/C.

 

D

[waroff]

 

 

Detail on the H75, armor plate cutout identical to the H81, but the headrest cushion is slightly different.

Note the notches for the seat mounts on frame 5 behind the armor plate.

[D Bellis]

2 hours ago, waroff said:

Detail on the H75...

Thanks for that! Great stuff. Anything else to add before I start cutting the sheet styrene? 

 

If I am interpreting the evidence properly, the lower 'back armor' plate is actually installed on the aft side of the rear cockpit bulkhead? 

 

It appears that the Great Wall rear bulkhead has a fair representation of the headrest armor, but not the back armor below it. The Cutting Edge cockpit set for the Trumpeter kit* has something for the headrest armor as well, but very basic and inaccurate. The Trumpeter kit offers only an arched, raised line as the only detail on the (useless anyway) rear wall. 

 

* The Cutting Edge cockpit for the Trumpeter kit is also way out of whack in depth. While the rear bulkhead is almost the correct height/depth, the sidewalls as-is would have the front of the floor angled upward to the approximate position of the kit's FAR too shallow position. So, while something of an improvement, the Cutting Edge set still requires considerable work to the sidewalls and rudder pedals to get the floor (wing top) somewhere close to the correct depth. 

 

D 

[waroff]

H75 vs H81&P40 frame 5

 

 

 

 

On 4/11/2025 at 7:12 AM, D Bellis said:

If I am interpreting the evidence properly, the lower 'back armor' plate is actually installed on the aft side of the rear cockpit bulkhead? 

 

The armor plate was bolted to frame 5 via ten L-shaped brackets on the edge of the frame. Its front face was flush with that of the frame.

Edited April 12 by waroff

[ade rowlands]

Pardon my jumping in on someone else’s thread, but would the Pearl Harbour based P-40B’s have had armour prior to the Japanese Attack on December 7th? I have the Great Wall Pearl Harbour boxing in the stash and I’m still hoping seemingly pointlessly now given its been an age since Great Wall released the last P-40 for an RAF Desert based boxing.

[KUROK]

Those drawings are Hawk 87 (P-40D on up).

The P-40B was Hawk 81