In what we now recognize as the twilight of the original 3.75-inch G.I. Joe era, there was an odd little spin-off line featuring Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles. Too bad it was about as original as it sounds.
Sometimes considered the bridge line between the end of A Real American Hero and the beginning of G.I. Joe Extreme, Sgt. Savage is a World War 2 hero that is frozen at war’s end and then found by Doc and Scarlett, or some other guys you don’t know, depending on the story. General Hawk eventually lets him recruit his own new band of Screaming Eagles to fight . . . uh . . . General Blitz, I think? Anyway, he got a few figures, a 20 minute animated tie-in, and some vehicles.
Namely, this one.
In the proud tradition of G.I. Joe aircraft based on real planes, Sgt. Savage got what many consider to be the farewell to said tradition in the form of his P-40 Warhawk. The Joe Kubert box art will remain forever one of my favorite G.I. Joe images.
I’ve often wondered what it was that directed Hasbro to the P-40. History has done a good job of regulating the Warhawk to the second pages of aerial warfare, usually long behind the P-51, P-47, and P-38. Perhaps it was that same affinity for the Navy’s premier fighter, the F-14, that got it top billing long before the more common F-16, and completely blocking the F-15 from the line proper. It’s hard to say.
The P-40 is rather undeserving of it’s under-billing, though. Following the war, it picked up a reputation as being a mediocre fighter, despite being very similar to it’s contemporaries the Hawker Hurricane and early ME-109s in terms of performance. It did have one major drawback, which kept it out of the high-flying bombing campaign of Norther Europe: It’s Allison engine lacked the high altitude and climbing capabilities of the later European fighters, making it inadequate for bomber escort duties. Everywhere else, though, the Warhawk carried out it’s duties admirably. What it lacked in high performance, it made up for in reliability, ease of maintenance, ruggedness, and a heavy armament. Made famous by the American Volunteer Group (The Flying Tigers) fighting the Japanese over China, the P-40 could essentially out-slug most of it’s faster and more maneuverable opponents. With over 12,000 built, and service through the end of the war, even after the aforementioned types were well available, the Warhawk was a formidable and deadly opponent for all but the most advanced fighters of the war.
The G.I. Joe version is pretty faithful to the rugged-but-classy lines of the real thing. Even the landing gear retract and turn into the wings, a unique feature of the P-40. While there were no mini-guns around in WW2, the massive Gatling cannon under the nose of Sgt. Savage’s is undeniably 1995 cool, and the sculpting work sells the idea of this being a very after-market addition to the plane — something not without precedent. Ground crews regularly cooked up their own weapons suites for individual aircraft.
The overall size is a little underscale, as per usual with G.I. vehicles, but the cabin is surprisingly big. I actually wonder if there was some intent for the P-40 to be carried over to the 5-inch G.I. Joe Extreme line. At least, until looking at the ridiculous pre-poses of those figures.
In addition to that monster cannon, the 6-.50 cal Brownings in the wings are imitated by these cannon and spring-loaded launcher packs. They actually look pretty cool, but they clutter up the wings a bit for my taste.
It didn’t take much dremelling to remove the bulkhead and do the unthinkable, though. I had to open the P-40 up to re-solder the contacts for the action feature, so I figured what the hell?
The action feature is the stuff childhoods where made of. Push the little lever on the back of the fuse and the propeller and Gatling barrels turn, making a little rattling and lighting a small red bulb inside. It can be very easy to waste a lot of time flying this around the house and shooting at your pets.
If I were ever to find myself with additional skills and some venture capital, I think I would make a Kickstarter to build a bunch of World War 2 planes like this P-40: scaled small, but with accurate looks and 6-inch figure canopies. I’d call it “War Dogs” or something. And I would for sure build this P-40 things like A6M Zeroes and ME-109s to dogfight with. But since I’m not either of those things at the moment, I am at least pleasantly surprised at how well a paint job and some new decals make the Warhawk look with my B-25 Mitchell.
Not bad for the last of the 1995 “real” G.I. Joes, right?
