Brief History
The aircraft was built under contract no. ac22714, as a batch of 335 aircraft in 1942. It was completed on October 13, 1942 and issued the USAAF serial number 42-10083. The “ship” number was 954. The aircraft was allocated to the Soviet Air forces as part of the defense aid program on october 18, 1942 pursuant to a lend-lease agreement.
On information and belief, the aircraft was boxed and freighted to Brooklyn, New York for shipment aboard New York-England Atlantic convoy HX212. Upon its arrival in the united kingdom, it shipped via a pq convoy to Mermansk, Russia. It was then erected and test flown before being allocated to 27zap for transfer to an operational unit. It was then received by the guards unit, 20gviap.
The aircraft served with guards unit 20gviap until November 10, 1944 when a cannon shell went through the fuel tank. The damage required a forced landing outside of Mermansk, Russia. Thereafter, the aircraft was never repaired or returned to service.
Ron Fagen took title to the aircraft from Brooks Sviation, Inc. on November 5, 2003. N402WH, LLC took title to the aircraft from Ron Fagen on april 26, 2011.
On the Curtiss Wright p-40k-10 both the fuselage and the wings were very complete and in good condition. All skins were removed and all parts rejuvenated or replaced including the majority of the original aluminum skin. The aircraft roughly has 85% original air frame components and 60% original skins still remaining on current aircraft today. Fagen Fighters restoration built their current fuselage and wing jig off this aircraft, which will be used on our future P-40 projects.
This aircraft joins the Fagen Fighters collection at the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum in Granite Falls, MN.
return
to
