My dad's P-40
by Tom Silsbee

My Father was a P-40 pilot and flew just about all of them. Sadly he reached out and touched the face of God earlier this year but he left a legacy of P-40 involvement. You have some info on him in the models section. His was the P-40L that AMTech did X6*0. Veronica was my Mom.

The P-40 was a work in progress. Dad painted the plane in while he was in Italy over the course of several months so the model was a snapshot of when he first started painting it. Eventually he painted it as you see it in the photograph. I have the particulars such as the black trim on the canopy and markings (X60) and the red border around the exhausts stacks. Remember, there wasn't much to do in between flights and when the weather was bad, as it gets in Italy in late winter/early spring. He was also an accomplished plastic model builder and I still have quite a few from the early 50's. He continued making them right up to his passing. The incredible thing is he never used modern gadgets like air brushes just a brush, tape and oil based enamels. Here is a pic of him with a BT-13 he built from scratch as well as a T-6.


© Tom Silsbee 2007