Curtiss Wright Buffalo production circa 1940-1941

[Larry Kraus]

I ran across a number of color pictures via Google Life images that show P-40's under construction and test as well as a few of O-52's.Here is a sample from around 75 total.As usual,there is minimal information in the available captions other than the photographer being Dmitri Kessel.













This one appeared to be reversed by the baggage door and fuel filler location behind the cockpit and aircraft info block,so I fliped it around





These look like O-52's to me

[skybolt2003]

Larry,
A lot of them are flipped I think-unless they are duped transparencies. The code notch on the edge of the film is on the upper rh corner (if the film is in a vertical orientation) when you load the film into the film holder-indicates the type of film and which side has the emulsion. So when you view a transparency the notch would be in the upper left. The one you flipped is right. If that makes any sense.
It's been a few years since I've shot large format, but I bet I can still load a stack of film holders in no time flat.
Bret

[hang the expense]

Hey Larry,I think those are the Vulcan street plant away from the main airport.The parking lot was cleared of cars when these birds really started coming off the line and flown off right along side of the building.Man is it narrow.They had to paint out the windows on that side because the plant workers would stop working everytime one of these took off.Last time I was there BFI was in the building and one of the guys gave me the nickle tour.You could see where the dolly tracks and where fixtures had been torched out of the floor.Still in place where the engine/firewall forward build up concrete blocks(really cool).Some really good "sticks" I'd say.Thank you for posting these pics.

[hang the expense]

The sixth pic down shows just how narrow the take off area was.WOW!

[Larry Kraus]

Bret,

You are right about a number of images being reversed.I'm not sure about the coding,but from locations of baggage doors,fuel fillers,prop rotation and some lettering on ladders and other peripheral items,I see that at least pics #3,#7 and almost certainly #1 were backward,as well as both O-52 shots.I'll try correcting things and add a few more.

This one shows a P-40 taking off on the narrow strip behind the parking lot that Hang The Expense mentions.I'm not positive on this one being oriented correctly



Here are the obviously reversed images from the first try,hopefully they are correct this time







Her's an additional O-52 along with the others that have the writing on the ladder legs in the correct orientation







Here are some additional shots











I can't tell which way this one should go.Maybe Hang The Expense can recognize which is correct

[gilt]

I believe this is the Kenmore Ave. plant.

Tom-

[hang the expense]

Is this plant on kenmore st ?I have always called it the vulcan st plant.The pic of the tomahawk taxiing away from the hangar is the back end of the plant building where they came off the line.The one with the guy in hat climbing out of the cockpit is correct(rudder hinge on left side)This is the same bird in back gound of one of the pics previous.The bird running up in the backgound by the truck with the red fenders is also correct and is getting ready to take off down the side of the building (right up close)The gas pumps were right to the right of the edge of the pic. the other pics with all the rough ground work could be out to the left of the hangar opening which is now a street as i remember 94 was when i was there last trying to get an airraid siren off the outside of the buildings.maybe i am all wet but this is what i remember.The owl pics look like the main plant by all the girder work inside the building.That was one large dang hangar which was said to have taken over a year to take it down.

[Rogue]

Note the Export H-81-A's

[hang the expense]

You bet.I bet the painted them right on the ramp.I have seen pics showing how the applied camo to these birds.Rubber templates that would contour to the shape of the aircraft making a sharp line between the colors.

[gilt]

This has always been referred to by Curtiss and historians as the Kenmore Ave. plant, Kenmore runs NW/SE on the west side of the plant, there is a double track railroad running N/S on the east side and a rail yard on the north side. The runway is on the north side and connects to Kenmore Ave.

I belive the three hangars and shed in the last two pictures were at the Buffalo Airport. Flights from the Kenmore site were usually one-way hops to the Buffalo Airport, similar to Boeings practice at the Renton plant which was sited on the water for flying boat production but used for B-29 and narrow body airliner production instead.

Tom-

[kzollitsch]

It's generally called the Kenmore Ave plant. The plant itself was pretty much at the intersection of Vulcan St. and Kenmore Ave. The majority of these pics are from the Kenmore plant. The Buffalo airport plant was much larger since they assembled C-46s there.

Remains of the Kenmore plant are still around as you can see:



Here's the old shot for a direct comparison:

[Larry Kraus]

Here are a few more pictures that show some detail of the interior and exterior of the plant.I've tried to use references including prop rotation,the location of the baggage door and fuselage fuel filler on the left side of the P-40 and whatever other clues that I can find as a basis for flipping the pictues 180 degrees in some cases.I can't guarantee that they are all correctly oriented.If anyone wants to check the source material they can use this link.Click on the thumbnail that you want,then click on the link to enlarge that will be at the lower right corner of the picture.

http://images.google.com/images?q=Curti ... life&hl=en











I lightened this one up with Photo Shop as much as I could











I'm not positive on this picture below.It appears to have a hole for the fuel filler behind the canopy,but there appears to be writing beginning with H- at the base of the first jig/dolly



So,here's the alternate version

[hang the expense]

The first pic is correct.The single hole in the rear vision panel is on the right side.It is for the stall warning buzzer which mounts inside the panel.Nice pics of the wing skin drill fixtures.Do you have anymore like those?

[hang the expense]

Look close and you will note one P-40E model mixed in with all these Tomahawks.That must of been confusing as they were finishing the last batch of tomahawks to have newer models mixed in to be finished.

[skybolt2003]

I guess I didn't explain the code notch thing very well. This is transparency film and was loaded in the dark. The edge of the film has notches manufactured in it to allow the photography to know what type of film it is and the side with the emulsion so it can be loaded into the film holder properly. You feel them with your finger and each film type has a different series of bumps, curves or ridges to id it. When processed and viewed, if the picture is horizontal the notches should be either top right or bottom left. So you should be able to determine proper orientation by using them as a guide.
Is that any clearer?
Bret