I came across this during a search I did for a good P40 pic a while ago. I posted it in a previous thread disussing the P40, but no-one in that thread knew much about this particular plane.

Does anyone know where this two-seater is or anything about it. Were there any trainers converted during the War? etc

'Tis a trainer. They rarely made two-seaters unless they had to - a trainer had to have two seats. . . . . 

Follow this link, there is mention of two trainer variants

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/URG/p40warhawk.html

Hagar, LOADS of early IL-2's were converted to two seaters in the war to incorporate a tail gunner.

result: most dangerous job in the russian airforce, because the armor wasn't that good on the rear side as it was on the front side

Great link, Rifle.

I've seen the Warbirds site before but must have missed that bit. I wonder how many of the trainers they mention were actually built.
In another thread on the forum today, the "Most immortal" thread, I chose the P40 as my vote, for the reasons I mentioned there. I must add the total production of 15,000 which certainly puts it well above many of the popular fighters except the most prolific.

The P51 section in that site makes for interesting reading too.

P.S. They mention the P51C having a 'Bulging' canopy as opposed to the "teardrop" canopy of the P51D. Does anyone have a shot of the "C' with this canopy they mention?

You gotta love this shot, though!  

Brensec, here are a few different canopy profiles for you to peruse........not sure how accurate they are, but personally I have seen all these types before, including the "Malcolm" stye on the razorback..........
http://www.flightjournal.com/fj/plane_profiles/p-51_mustang/p-51_mustang_sidevie...

And from this link, I think I can surmise that the bubble-topped razor-back is the B/C model that you have in question............ Quote:

http://www.p51.mustangsmustangs.com/p51Production.shtml

According to my quick bit of reserch, there are only two two seat P-40's remaining. The only one I can find out anything about is the sole surviving factory built TP-40N-6-CU belonging to Mr. Kermit Weeks. This plane is just coming to the end of a total rebuild, so the one in your photo is most likely the other one. Your aircraft must have had a second seat fitted some time during it's life but I can't find any details just now. I'll keep looking.

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As I mentioned earlier, the Grace Spitfire is a genuine factory conversion to Tr.9 standard.
It has full dual controls which enabled Carolyn Grace to be trained to fly it after the sad loss of her husband. She is the only fully qualified female Spitfire display pilot in the world & much respected for her exquisite displays. http://www.ml407.co.uk/

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Very good question. In the UK, all display pilots have to pass a strict assessment & possess a display pilot's licence before being allowed to perform in public. This is carried out on an annual basis. I'm not sure on the current regulations but the PPL is restricted to certain categories (ratings), usually single, twin, multi-engine & instrument ratings. I'm not sure if the power or performance of the aircraft is taken into account. The holder of a single-engined PPL would need appropriate instruction before taking the conversion test to a twin-engine rating. Instruction & the rating exam itself can be carried out in either their own or a hired aircraft. The test is carried out by a CAA approved examiner. A powerful high-performance fighter like the Spitfire is obviously a completely different prospect to the single-engined Cessnas & Pipers commonly used by flying clubs. If you're fortunate to own one & possess a valid single-engine rated PPL I suppose it would be legal to fly it without further instruction. This would obviously be very stupid & a conversion course or at least a couple of check flights in a Harvard or one of the 2-seater versions of the actual type would be the best way of doing it. This would depend on the individual pilot's experience. The fact that most vintage fighters are taildraggers is another consideration as these are particularly difficult to handle on the ground & when landing for the average private pilot. A taildragger course on something like a Chipmunk might be necessary before going on to the meaty stuff with those huge engines & props out front.

The fact that there were very few 2-seat trainer versions of operational fighters during WWII was the reason for development of high-performance intermediate trainers like the Harvard & Miles Master. Before these were introduced the typical rookie RAF pilots would go straight from a Tiger Moth or Magister elementary trainer with fixed gear on to the operational types. They were expected to fly a powerful, complex single-seater after a short ground briefing & demonstration of the cockpit.
This was one of the reasons for the high casualty rate among rookie fighter pilots in the BoB.

There were also a number of "non-standard" two seat conversion carried out in the field. Mostly done on older war-weary airframes they were used as Sqdn hacks.

Perversely, the Sqdn hacks had the best chance of surviving the war and many were converted back to original.

I once saw a very interesting TV documentary covering the rebuild of the Grace Spitfire from start to finish. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called or if it's available privately. I believe the project took several years to complete, most of the work being done by Nick Grace himself, encouraged by Carolyn. I do remember that they retained as many original parts as possible, only using new materials where absolutely essential or for safety reasons. Every rivet in the airframe had to be carefully replaced with modern types as these were of a magnesium alloy which corrodes over a period of time. When you think about it, these wartime aircraft were only expected to last for comparatively few hours in service. If they were not destroyed in action they would be replaced by improved types on a regular basis. I'm sure the manufacturers never expected to see them still actively flying some 60 years later.

Before I retired, Spitfire restorer Charles Church would visit our company from time to time. I obviously made a point of chatting to him whenever possible. He told me that if I had a genuine manufacturer's ID plate, he could build me a Spitfire to go with it.

INteresting comments - I've been to the Kissimmee Warbird Restoration Museum - where rebuilding/remaking warbirds is their specialty (especially bombers) .. they too, use original components where at all possible and they can be refurbished, but in the case of wrecks, ... a lot is reverse-engineered new build.

As to the "originality" of warbirds today?  I dare say that even the best of the restorations are model Bs... "bitzer here, bitzfromdere..."

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Look at it this way - how many B-52s flying today are "originals" - are they considered "rebuilds" ??

On "wings discovery channel" there
was a program about a fw190 that
was "rebuilt" about 75% replaced.
The pilot that last flew the plane was
still alive , living in Berlin, He came to
Texas to see the plane, It didn't matter
if only one part was orignial, it mattered
that people cared and had done what
they had to do to keep a piece of
history alive

Bhofmx