There is no doubt that P-40N 44-7203 was one of ninety P-40s purchased in February 1946 by Paul Mantz and his partners as part of a group of 475 surplus aircraft located at Stillwater, Oklahoma. At least the wings and probably the fuselage of this P-40N were later seen at Chino in July 1970 and it was reported to have been “on display” at Chino circa 1972. What happened to 44-7203 in the intervening 24 years between 1946 and 1970, and its fate after 1972, is a mystery.

P-40N 44-7203 was delivered by Curtiss at Buffalo on April 25, 1944. It served the AAF domestically at several bases over the subsequent fifteen months, including Pollock Field (Louisiana) and Esler Field (Louisiana), most likely in a training role. It was deemed excess to AAF needs in early August 1945 and assigned the RFC field at Stillwater, Oklahoma, for disposal.

Mantz and partners obtained the lot of 475 surplus warplanes in February 1946. Most were eventually disassembled on site, components loaded on to rail cars, and then sent on to be smelted elsewhere. Mantz later said he made more money just selling the gasoline in the fuel tanks than he paid for the lot of aircraft.

Several fortunate aircraft survived to make it into the Mantz aircraft collection, and 44-7203 was among them. It appears that three surplus P-40Ns, 44-7192, 44-7203, and 44-7983, were shipped (or flown) from Stillwater to Southern California, date unknown but most likely in 1946. Though Mantz had his base at the Union Air Terminal (now Hollywood Burbank Airport), at least one of these three P-40s, 44-7192, ended up being stored at the Hughes Airport in Culver City. It is an easy jump to think that all three ended up being stored at the Hughes airport. In 1953, one of the P-40Ns (44-7192) was placed on loan with the City of Los Angeles.

However, one could also suppose that the other two P-40s ended up following Mantz to Orange County in the mid-1950s where the disassembled airframes remained in storage, then continued in obscure storage with Tallmantz after 1961. P-40N 44-7983 surfaced from the Tallmantz collection in 1970 as disassembled components sold to the Military Aircraft Restoration Corp. (MARC) at Chino, California. A July 1970 photo also positively shows the wings and probably the fuselage of 44-7203 also disassembled at Chino and reported as owned by MARC. It is thus possible that both 44-7983 and 44-7203 were sold by Tallmantz to MARC as parts at the same time, in June 1970, though there are some confusing elements in the available photos. More to follow…

The subject aircraft, 44-7203, was reported as being displayed at Chino Airport circa 1972 in both the 1989 and 1992 editions of John Chapman/Geoff Goodall/Paul Coggan’s Warbirds Worldwide Directory. No photos of this P-40N displayed at Chino have come to light.

P-40N 44-7983 was restored at Chino in the early 1970s and was sold by MARC in 1989. But, that begs the question about the other P-40N: if 44-7203 was at Chino in the 1970-1972 timeframe, what happened to it? A diligent internet and publication search fails to reveal any further information. There are several unidentified P-40 airframes around, but it is probable that parts from 44-7203  were incorporated into other P-40 restorations and its identity was lost. Curious minds remain curious.