The AVG P40s had a very high failure rate of the prop reduction gear boxes.
Guys, I have worked with both of you on Curtiss related things. FormerOlder has done an exhaustive amount of research on the AVG over the years, and JtD is also well versed on things Hawk, I see no need for you guys to have a spat.
Even without the manual boost control issue, the hand fitted Allisons that were installed on the AVG Hawks did indeed produce more power than standard issue engines. This alone could be the cause of the high failure rates of reduction gears.
Just saying it's because of manual boost controls plays too much into the revisionist view that the AVG's pilots were inferior. Their combat record in the short time they flew stands in very stark contrast indeed to the modern, and wrong, thinking about them.
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Personally speaking, the P-40 could contend on an equal footing with all the types of Messerschmitts, almost to the end of 1943.
~Nikolay Gerasimovitch Golodnikov
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