[Cruver Collecter]

In mid October 1941 in the Philippines a Wright Field Maintenance Command Tech Order arrived with delivery of fifty new P-40Es. The Tech Order instructed squadron armorers to plug the inlet of all the hydraulic gun charger valves, in turn making the gun charging system inoperative. The field order would remain in affect until receipt of further instructions. Although no reason was given in the Wright Field Order, rumors indicated possible problem between gun charging hydraulics and the hydraulics for landing gear and flaps. Disabling the gun charging system meant that each gun would have to be manually charged before takeoff. The 17th Pursuit's armorers were concerned with impossibility of clearing a jam in the air during combat. In air if jam occurred, pilot would have to return to field to have guns cleared. 17th Pursuit armorers even went as far as building a stand for a P-40E to be tested on. They cleared the plug, charged the weapon using hydraulic system and lowered and raised landing gear to include flap use over a three day period. At no time during the test did any failure occur. The 17th pursuit forwarded there favorable test results up to depot, but could not get them to rescind the Wright Field Order. With no further instructions, the armorers were obliged to maintain this primitive manual gun charging procedures. This definitely did not help out on December 8th 1941. Not really what would fall under a design flaw, but a major blunder to say the least.