Original Items: One-of-a-kind set. Well this is definitely something really interesting and special! On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise, preemptive military strike on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, "a date which will live in infamy." The attack unfortunately resulted in destruction of numerous ships, as well as airfields and planes on the ground.

However, 87 Curtiss P-40B Tomahawk IIA aircraft managed to make it into the air to combat the Japanese onslaught. One of these 87 was serial number 41-13297, which is the plane that this fuselage piece originates from. The piece of aircraft aluminum measures about 5" x 4.5" inches, and is roughly triangular in shape.

The aircraft survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, however on January 24, 1942, it crashed in the Koolau Mountain Region north of Honolulu. The plane was then recovered 45 years later in 1989, and the Curtiss-Wright Historical Historical Association began rebuilding it to flying condition. This endeavor was successful, and the aircraft has had several owners since then, as noted on various websites: WARHAWK/41-13297 at The War Bird Registry.

The fuselage iece is mounted on a wooden backing, above a picture of a P-40B Tomahawk. This it itself mounted to the front of a plexiglass piece inside a wooden frame, which has the details of the item listed below it. It measures about 16" x 13" x 2", and is in wonderful display condition. A great piece of WWII memorabilia!

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter of World War II, after the P-51 and P-47; by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built, all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities at Buffalo, New York.

The P-40B was one of the production variants, known as the Tomahawk IIA. It had extra .30 in (7.62 mm) U.S., or .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns in the wings and a partially protected fuel system.

P-40 Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps gave the plane, and after June 1941, the USAAF adopted the name for all models, making it the official name in the U.S. for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.