The Curtiss P-40 earned undying fame as the "Flying Tiger" of World War II when flown by General Claire Chennault's Volunteer Group fighting the Japanese in China and Burma. It also saw much service in the Middle East where it was used by Britain's RAF and nicknamed the Tomahawk and Kittyhawk. When World War II broke out, the P-40 was the only fighter available in quantity to the USAAF, it being the first American single-seat plane to be manufactured in the US on a mass production basis. By the end of the war, over 14,000 planes had been delivered to fighting theatres.