Lack of gun barrels in wings of early Aleutian P-40Es?

[warhawk]

Hello,

Looking at various photos of 343FG/11FS aircraft, namely aircraft No.49, I have noticed that no photos of these early birds show gun barrels protruding from the wing leading edges.
Was this another modification for operating in the cold weather (like sealing the openings around exhaust pipes)?
Or were they deleted from the photos by a censor?

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/P-40/343FG/images/Curtiss-P-40E-Warhawk-343FG11FS-Y49-Aleutian-Islands-1942-02.jpg
https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/P-40/343FG/images/Curtiss-P-40E-Warhawk-343FG11FS-Aleutian-Islands-1942-02.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8b/4e/3e/8b4e3eff19b82dc9948d665c437bbed2.jpg

[Mark Joyce]

I see you got your answer over on Britmodeller, so won't repeat it except to say I have a photograph of a P-40E taken in January 1942 in Hawaii that has the gun ports taped over, so obviously it wasn't just for cold weather!

[warhawk]

Thanks in any case for the confirmation!

[Mark Joyce]

Here's a link (hopefully) of the photograph I'm referring to:

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/P-40/15FG/pages/Curtiss-P-40E-Warhawk-15FG72FS-W1-Beckwith-Hawaii-1942-01.html

[warhawk]

Great and clear photo.
However, in case of plane No49 and No.96, some tape very similar in color to the camouflage appears to have been used
(I cannot even detect it on the photos that I have enclosed above).