Gabby's Warhawk

P-40N-5 42-105288 ‘Yellow L’ of 1Lt Glen C. Holder,
35th FS/8th FG, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, February 1944

Yellow L was assigned to Holder in September 1943 when the 35th FS transitioned to the lightweight ‘Warhawk’ from the P-39/P-400 ‘Airacobra’.

Glen scored three confirmed and two probable during the six months that the 35th FS flew the P-40N. All these were achieved in the L-ship. The first victory occurred on Christmas day 1943 near Arawe, New Britain when Holder destroyed a Ki-46 ‘Dinah’ while patrolling the “BACKHANDER” invasion convoy bound for Cape Gloucester. The next day Holder scored again, claiming a ‘Zeke22’ as a probable over Borgen Bay.

During the final Air Combat for the 35th FS, while flying the P-40N, Glen scored two confirmed and one probable over Saidor, New Guinea 16 January 1944. One of the victories at Saidor was a Ki-61-I ‘Tony’ piloted by WO Takashi Noguchi of the 3rd Chutai / 68th Sentai. The other aircraft claimed were Ki-43-II ‘Oscar’ from the 59th and 63rd Sentai. This combat set the war time record for VFC for victories by a single squadron during a single engagement with 19 confirmed and 3 probable.

During February 1944, the 35th FS began the transition into Lockheed’s P-38 ‘Lightning’, and thus ended the historic ‘Warhawk’ era for the 35th FS.

WARHAWK Specifications

Type: Single Seat Fighter
Powerplant: Allison V-1710-81 1,200hp inline engine
Maximum Speed: 378mph @ 15,000ft
Service Ceiling: 31,000ft
Range: 750mi
Armament: Six wing mounted Browning M2 .50 cal machine guns
Comments: GCH achieved three confirmed and two probable air-combat-victories while flying the Warhawk from September 1943-to-February 1944

" Here Be Dragons "