This work that Rich and Guido mentioned is good, Isaev (that is a co-author I think) is one of the best Russian historians regarding the war in the air. His work is based on archival material from both sides and deprived of patriotic mumbo jumbo.
Regarding the P-40 maybe this would help you a bit.
"During the Second World War, the P-40 fighters fought practically throughout the Soviet-German front. Little known fact Tomahawks and Kittyhawks with red stars took part in all the decisive battles: the battle for Moscow, Stalingrad, the defense of Leningrad, in the Kuban, on the Kursk arc and further until the liberation of East Prussia. True, everywhere (except the North), their number was relatively small (usually no more than 1-2 regiments for the air army), and therefore they had no decisive impact on the course of the battles.
In total during 1941-44, 247 Tomahawks and 2178 Kittyhawks (P-40E, K, M and N) were received, which takes the plane to the fourth place after the P-39, Hurricane and P-63. The dynamics of admission to the air force and air defense by years is as follows: 1941 - 230 Tomahawks and 15 P-40E; 1942 - 17 Tomahawks and 487 P-40E, E-1, K; 1943 - 939 P-40E-1, K, M, N; 1944 - 446 mainly P-40M and N. Another 291 Kittyhawks entered the Air Force of the Navy.
In the Soviet air force, Kittyhawk was considered an average machine, better than the I-15, I-16 and Hurricane, but worse than P-39, Yak or Lavochkin. Therefore, the history of a typical regiment on the P-40 looked like this. They started the war on the I-15, I-16 or MiG-3; having lost them in battles to the beginning-middle of 1942, received Р-40С; gradually replenished P-40E, K, which replaced the out-of-service machines previously received. Then followed two options: if the regiment did not show much of itself in the battles, then it was transferred to the air defense and received P-40M and N; if a regiment achieved noticeable successes, became a Guards regiment and were rearmed on the P-39, Yak-7, -9 or La-5. This continued until the end of 1943, when the Kittyhawks practically disappeared from the air forces of the Red Army, almost completely moving to the air defense and aviation of the Navy. In May 1945, only one regiment (24 Kittyhawks) was listed in the 1st IA III of the Byelorussian Front, but in the air defense there were 409 Kittyhawks and Tomahawks , 96 in the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet and about fifty in the Air Force North.
The first shipment of the Tomahawks, which included 20 P-40 early series, was sent from the United States to the USSR in September 1941. It was bought for gold, and not through the Lend-Lease, which was extended to the USSR only on November 7. By that time English Tomahawks had already arrived in Arkhangelsk. On August 31, 7 Tomahawks IIA (RAF numbers from AH965 to AH971) and 17 - IIB models (AK196-198, 242-247, 250, 253, 255-258, 300, 311) have been received with the 'test' convoy PQ-0 "Dervish". These variants differed only in radio equipment and wing weapons: on IIA were installed British HF-stations and Browning machine guns with a caliber of 7.69 mm, IIB had American VHF stations and 7.62 mm Colt-Browning.
At a special airfield with a wooden covering, that was urgently built by the prisoners of the Gulag
and named "10th kilometer," the fighters, under the supervision of British aircraft engineers, gathered and flew around. With the help of two American flight instructors, Mr. John Alison and Hubert Zemke, a number of Soviet pilots were trained between September 10 and 29, who airlifted the aircraft to the 27th Reserve Aviation Regiment (ZAP).
The reserve air regiments in the Soviet Air Force had a dual function: they were the centers for retraining combat air units and individual crews for new types of aircraft, as well as depots that distributed the same equipment for front-line air units to compensate for losses. So with the Tomahawks, there was reasonable care - despite the acute shortage of fighters, they decided to first study them in the rear.
The 27th ZAP was based at the Kadnikov airfield, which is 140 km from Vologda by the Vologda-Arkhangelsk railroad. It was formed in August 1941 specifically for retraining to Tomahawks and Hurricanes. In 1941-42, it became the main "gateway" through which the Tomahawks entered the air regiments of the Air Force of the Red Army. Here the 126th, 154th, 159th, 964th IAP and dozens of individual crews were trained. On November 2, the regiment was reorganized into a 2-squadron (015/177), and on December 27 there were 15 Tomahawks IIB (АН974, 978, АК172, 197, 243, 247, 250, 258, 321, 327, 342 , 345, 363, 388, AN493), 4 two-seat training fighter Yak-7b and 2 UTI-4. Despite the difficulties that appeared during the winter operation (engine failures, generators and other parts caused a number of accidents), the instructors of the 27th ZAP considered Tomahawk to be quite simple in piloting and quite accessible for mid-level pilots. Due to its high strength, he could withstand the inevitable in the training process, rough landing and even emergency landing on the fuselage, so only 14 planes were written off for 14 months of intensive operation (AN974, AK316, 196, 243, 321).
The first in the 27th ZAP for re-training arrived the 126th IAP, on September 15, 1941, which was commanded by Major V. Naidenko, one of the most experienced pilots of the Air Force of the Red Army, who managed to fight in Spain, on Khalkhin-Gol and in Finland. This regiment fought from June 22 on the I-16 and MiG-3, having received a good combat experience. Two pilots, Ridnyi and Kamenshikov, by Decree of 09.08.41, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (hereinafter referred to as the HSS).
Maj. Naidenko is briefing his pilots, winter 1941
Mastering of the American aircraft was hampered by the lack of technical descriptions and instructions in Russian. Pilots and technicians had to translate them with a dictionary in the evenings, after working at the airport. Tomahawk turned out to be easy to learn and from October 1 the regiment set to training flights, but two days later they had to immediately move to the front. The 126th IAP, consisting of two squadrons (20 aircraft), flew to Chkalovskaya airfield and began fighting for the defense of Moscow. From October 25, 1941 to April 25, 1942, as part of the 6th air defense corps, the regiment carried out 666 sorties to cover the forces of the Kalinin and Western fronts, and also 319 to defend Moscow. On the combat account of the unit were recorded 29 enemy aircraft. Their losses were 4 planes and 2 pilots. With the greatest intensity, the regiment fought during the first month of stay near Moscow, having made 685 sorties and achieved 17 victories. Then came a continuous accident: Tomahawks were completely unadapted for the Russian winter. From the frosts that reached -38 ° C, pneumatic wheels cracked, the accumulators were discharged, the oil, the slurry and the antifreeze froze, which caused bursts of radiators (38 cases), for the soldering of which they had to confiscate all the silver spoons in the neighboring villages. Often there were disruptions of electric generators and wedging of engines.
To eliminate this flurry of defects, engineering and technical staff of the regiment got the help of specialists from the Air Force Research Institute. The generators and wheels were replaced by Soviet ones; The hydraulic, oil and cooling systems were equipped with special cranes, with which the fluids were completely drained for the night, and other modifications were made. But when they learned how to deal with defects, most of the Tomahawks had already lost their combat capability, not only spare parts and new engines, which were not sent at all (!), but even ... cartridges for the English and American machine guns! By mid-January 1942, only 9 aircraft could have flown into the air. It is interesting that one of the Tomahawks, thanks to the skillful technician A. Lunev, has fulfilled by the time 90 sorties without any accidents! In January, the regiment was able to perform 198 sorties (334 flying hours), conducted 11 air battles in which 5 Bf 109, 1 Ju 88 and 1 He 111 were shot down. Here the statistics reveal an unexpected fact, it turns out the Tomahawks quite successfully fought with Messerschmitts! This was confirmed by the reports of the pilots on the circumstances of the battles. For example, on January 18, a couple of Lts S.V. Levin and I. Levsha fought with seven Bf 109s, knocking down two of them, and safely returned to their base. Zveno (3 aircraft) of Lt. Lozovoy also avoided losses, on January 22 in a battle with 13 enemy planes shot down 2 Bf 109E. In total, 2 Tomahawks were lost in January, and only one of them was shot down by a Messerschmitt, the second was on account of German antiaircraft gunners.
And yet, mainly losses were due to failures of the material part. Especially often brought the engines. As a rule, pilots managed to land a plane with an idle engine, but sometimes luck turned away from them. So, on February 17, 1942, as a result of the engine failure during take off, one of the best pilots of the regiment, Lt. S.G. Ridny crashed (Tomahawk AK325).
Despite the abundance of accidents, the overall impression of the pilots of the 126th IAP about the aircraft turned out to be good. The Tomahawk was exactly what was lacking domestic fighters. If the creators of Soviet technology achieved first of all the high speed and maneuverability of their planes, while the remaining qualities were considered secondary, the P-40 developers paid special attention to such "trifles" as powerful weapons (a second of volley of 2 large calibers and 4 of the rifle caliber was 1.5 times larger than even for the MiG-3), protection (38 mm frontal armored glass), stable radio communication, a good view from the pilot's cockpit, a cabin with very clear glasses and a reliable emergency discharge, comfort in a spacious cabin a large (up to 1100 km) flight range. In addition, the highly-rated airframe of the P-40 often allowed pilots to stay unharmed during emergency landing. In the hands of experienced air fighters, the airplane turned out to be a formidable weapon, although it had insufficient speed and maneuverability, conceding in this even a Me 109E, and the Yaks and LaGGs. Disadvantages of the machine were compensated by the good coordination of the zvenos and group tactics, which provided for the separation in height. Therefore, the majority of victories in the 126th IAP was a group one, on the account of S. Ridnogo (AN965) was 9 personally downed plus 17 in the group, V.G. Kamenshchikova - 7 + 10, V.M. Naidenko is 5 + 11. The aces, who won 5 or more victories, were 12 pilots. 31 pilot was awarded orders and medals for distinctions in the battle of Moscow."
May be continued...