How One U.S. Pilot’s “Rag-Stuffed Filter” Trick Made P-40s Beat Every Japanese Fighter Over China

Описание: In November 1942, American P-40 Warhawk fighters in China faced a deadly problem: dust was destroying their engines faster than Japanese Zeros. This is the untold story of Lt. Charlie Weaver and Sgt. Bobby Thompson, who developed a crude filtration system from scavenged materials that would eventually transform aircraft engineering doctrine across the entire theater. From desperate improvisation to official Air Force technical orders, this documentary reveals how one crew chief's innovation—and the pilots who tested it under fire—turned the tide of aerial combat in the China-Burma-India theater.

SOURCES:
This documentary was created using historical records and primary source materials from the following archives and publications:

1. 23rd Fighter Group Historical Records, Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA), Maxwell AFB, Alabama

2. Fifth Air Force Maintenance Reports, 1942-1943, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, MD

3. "Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942" by Daniel Ford (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991)

4. Technical Order 23-FG-12: Installation of Brass Mesh Pre-Filtration Screens on P-40E/K Aircraft (December 1942), AFHRA Collection

5. Army Air Forces Material Command Technical Reports, 1943-1944, Wright-Patterson AFB Archives

6. "Sharks Over China: The Story of the AVG and the 23rd Fighter Group" by Larry M. Pistole (Schiffer Publishing, 1994)

7. Stars and Stripes Newspaper Archives, Pacific Edition, April-May 1943

8. P-40 Warhawk Maintenance Manuals and Technical Orders, 1941-1945, Air Force Museum Research Division

9. "Combat Chronology of the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1941-1945: China-Burma-India Theater" by Kit C. Carter and Robert Mueller (Office of Air Force History, 1973)

10. 75th Fighter Squadron Unit Diaries and After-Action Reports, November 1942 - August 1943, NARA

11. Japanese Military Intelligence Assessments, China Theater 1943 (translated), National Diet Library, Tokyo

12. "The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume Four: The Pacific - Guadalcanal to Saipan" edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate (University of Chicago Press, 1950)

13. P-40E Warhawk Restoration Documentation, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Aircraft #319

14. Personal Letters and Diaries Collection, 23rd Fighter Group Veterans Association Archives

15. "Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific" by Eric M. Bergerud (Westview Press, 2000)