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Curtiss P-36C "Hawk"
Curtiss Hawk Model 75
Curtiss "Mohawk"
P36C
General Historical Information
Place of origin USA
Designer Donovan Reese Berlin
Manufacturer Curtiss-Wright Corporation
Produced In 1938 - 1941
Speed 432 km/h
Category Fighter
General Ingame Information
Debut Debut in Forgotten Hope
Retired in FHSW Yes
Used by USA
Great Britain
The Netherlands
Finland
France
Crew in‑game 1
Guns 2x 12.7 mm M2HB mg's
2x 7.62 mm M1919 mg's
Historical Picture
P36Creal
Movie
Curtiss_Hawk_H75C-1

The Curtiss P-36 "Hawk" or Curtiss Hawk Model 75, was also know by the British as the Mohawk, was a low wing single fighter aircraft. The P-36 first entered service with the 20th Pursuit Group, of the United States Army Air Corps, at Barksdale Field in Louisiana in April 1938. The hawk took the place of the outdated Boeing P-36 "Peashooter" fighters. However, from the day they arrived on the field, the brand new Curtiss fighter was marred by numerous teething problems. Skin buckling over landing gear, which had to be replaced by heavier sheet metal. Also the aircraft had engine exhaust problems and weaknesses in the fuselage. However, despite all these problems, both the American and British air force, found this aircraft very easy to handle, especially in fast dives. Though by the outbreak of the Second World War, the Americans and British considered the Hawk as an outdated design and by 1941, they were replaced by new and more effective fighters.

The Hawk during the Second World War[]

Still, the P-36 saw some action at the beginning of the Second World War. The first P-36's saw action already in first months of the outbreak of the war in Europe. During Fall Gelb, the French air-force defend the French sky with the so called Curtiss H75-C1. The H75-C1 variant, only exported to France, saw little operational use due to its late delivery and reliability problems with the Wright radial engine. A total of 316 H75s were delivered to France before the German occupation. On September 20, Sergeant André-Armand Legrand, pilot of a H75-C1, was credited of the first Allied air victory of World War II on the Western front with shooting down one German Bf-109E over Oberhern. During 1939–1940, French H75 pilots claimed 230 air-to-air kills and 81 probable victories in H75's against only 29 aircraft lost in aerial combat. While only 12.6% of the French Air Force single-seater fighter force the H75 accounted for almost a third of air-to-air kills during the 1940 Battle of France. Of the 11 French aces of the early part of the war, seven flew H75s. The leading ace of the time was Lieutenant Edmond Marin la Meslée with 15 confirmed and five probable victories in the type. H75-equipped squadrons were evacuated to French North Africa before the Armistice to avoid capture by the Germans. While under the Vichy government, these units clashed with British aircraft over Mers el-Kébir and Dakar. During Operation Torch in North Africa, French H75s fought against U.S. Navy Wildcats, losing 15 aircraft while shooting down seven American aircraft. From late 1942 on, the Allies started re-equipping the formerly Vichy-controlled French H75 units with Warhawks and Airacobra fighters.

The first and last American battle in the war with the P-36, was during the attack of Pearl-Harbor. During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, the only american aerial opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks, P-40 "Warhawks" fighters and some SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers stationed in the carrier USS Enterprise. Five P-36's could take off from the Enterprise and were credited with shooting down two Japanese Zeros for the loss of one P-36.

The Curtiss Hawk 75A-7 was the first monoplane fighter in the Dutch East Indies Air Force and arrived in 1940. Along with the Curtiss Wright CW-21B and the most numerous fighter plane the Brewster B-339 they were used in the fight against the Japanese planes until the last five planes were lost during the battle of Java in February 1942. Some Hawk 75 planes were outfitted with six 50lb bombs.

The P36 is quite a rare aircraft as it was phased out by the P-40 even before the war. It is one of the aircraft available to the British at the Fall of Singapore and to the Americans stationed on Adak Island. It is also one of the many types of aircraft used by the Finns at Lake Ladoga.

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