Peru
With the end of hostilities the US moved to cement its position in Peru as well as Ecuador. Alongside the establishment of military bases in her northern neighbour, the US negotiated for the construction of a joint naval-air base at Talara, at the westernmost point of South America. As the most oil rich location in Peru, the Peruvians themselves saw that a major defensive installation there would be in their own best interests in the event of future wars.
But the Peruvians still needed sweetening, and were approved to acquire modern military equipment, as they phased out their predominately Italian aircraft for new US models. A joint services inspection team was soon sent to the US to select aircraft and armour.
With recent experience, and with knowledge of their country, the army were looking for another AFV to augment the LTP’s. US tank design had been in the doldrums for years and had really only started to catch up with global trends since the Entente had declared war on Nazi Germany, and so potential vehicles were surprisingly limited. Marmon-Herrington were producing tanks for the Netherlands East Indies, but not the US military, and were the premier builders of light tanks, but they were so heavily committed to that order that they were unable to contemplate building tanks for any other customer in the foreseeable future. Fortunately the Light Tank M3 had just entered production for US service at American Car & Foundry Company, and a batch of 30 vehicles was allocated for Peru.
The air force inspectors went first to the manufacturers of the US aircraft already in service, visiting the Douglas facility at El Segundo. The engineers at Douglas had taken the battle reports of the miserable performance of the Dutch 8A-3N and Fairey Battle aircraft in the battles over the Low Countries, and updated the design of the 8A to a new 8A-6 standard with a more powerful engine and better armour. This revised model had caught the attention of the US military, and had been ordered into production for the rapidly expanding Panama Canal Air Force as the Douglas A-33. With delivery to Peru fitting in with the US expansion plans, agreement was made to redirect 20 aircraft directly from the production line for Peru, with the USAAC order being increased to meet that reallocation.
The North American NA-50 formed the cutting edge of Peru’s air force, but the Peruvians wanted a machine that was a more significant step-up in performance than North American’s follow-up model, the NA-68. Discussions with Curtis for either their P-36 or P-40 were not successful, as production backlogs for both meant a delivery could not be given for a date acceptable to Peru, and so attention returned to NA. In contrast, having just completed an order for Thailand, NA was ready to start immediate production of their fighter. But even this prospect hit an immediate hurdle, the PALS leasing system only applied to types in US military service, rather than just manufactured in the US, and the NA-68 had only been designed as an export fighter. And so a special arrangement was determined whereby all flight testing of completed aircraft was to be completed by the USAAC, under the US designation of P-64. With this in agreement in place an order for 30 aircraft was placed, with deliveries starting before the end of the year.
Hoping for more advanced fighters, the Peruvian pilots did not find their new steeds a noticeable upgrade from their bright silver “Little Bulls”. Although delivered without a name, the dull olive drab P-68’s soon earned the unofficial nickname as “Burro”, donkey.
Adjusted gunpod on P-64