Subject: Number Thirty-Six in the Series--the Curtiss P-36 Hawk --Part 2 of 6

From: [email-masked] (Joseph F Baugher)
Date: 11 Nov 92 17:20:09 GMT

>From Joseph F Baugher <[email-masked]>

Although the P-36 saw very little combat in American hands, the 
Curtiss fighter was to see quite a bit of combat in foreign hands.  In 
fact, it is one of the few military aircraft actually to see combat on 
BOTH sides during the Second World War.  

The largest foreign operator of the Hawk was the Armee de l'Air, the 
French Air Force.  Next to the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, the Curtiss 
Hawk was numerically the most important fighter in French service 
during the German onslaught into Western Europe in May of 1940.  

In February 1938, two months before the first P-36A had rolled off the 
Buffalo assembly lines for the USAAC, the French government entered 
into negotiations with the Curtiss company for the supply of 300 
fighters of the Hawk 75A type which Curtiss had offered to the Armee 
de l'Air.  The Hawk 75A was an export version of the P-36A, and was 
being offered for sale with either the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp or 
the Wright Cyclone engine.  

However, the unit price asked by Curtiss was considered exorbitant by 
the French--almost twice as high as that of the Morane-Saulnier 
M.S.406.  In addition, the proposed delivery schedule commencing in 
March of 1939 with 20 planes and continuing at a rate of 30 planes per 
month was considered totally unacceptable.  Furthermore, the USAAC was 
itself unhappy with the Curtiss company's inability to meet delivery 
schedules for its P-36As, and felt that the French sale would only 
slow things up still more.  Consequently, the USAAC opposed the French 
sale.  

Nevertheless, the rapidity of German rearmament made the modernization 
of the Armee de l'Air's equipment a matter of the utmost urgency, so 
the French persisted with the negotiations.  As a result of the direct 
intervention of President Roosevelt, a leading French test pilot, 
Michel Detroyat was permitted to fly a Y1P-36 service test prototype 
at Wright Field in March of 1938.  He submitted a thoroughly 
enthusiastic report.  In addition, Curtiss suggested that more 
acceptable delivery schedules could be offered if the French 
government would finance the construction and equipping of 
supplementary assembly facilities.  

The French still felt that the unit price was too high, and on April 
28, 1938 they decided to delay their decision until the completion of 
the test trials of the Bloch MB-150, the quoted price of which was 
scarcely half that of the Curtiss fighter.  However, the MB-150 was 
suffering an extensive series of teething troubles (the first 
prototype couldn't even fly!) and had been subjected to a succession 
of modifications for nearly two years.  By mid-1938, it was felt that 
the Bloch fighter's main problems had been overcome.  However, it was 
soon realized that in order to adapt the design for mass production, a 
complete structural redesign would have to take place.  

The rework of the Bloch MB-150 would obviously be a costly and time- 
consuming process, and time was something the Armee de l'Air did not 
have.  Consequently, on May 17, 1938 the Minister for Air announced 
that the French would acquire the Curtiss Hawk, and that a French 
purchasing commission was instructed to order 100 Hawk airframes and 
173 Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines.  The contract stipulated 
that the first Hawk should be flown at Buffalo by November 25, 1938 
and that the 100-th plane should be delivered by April 10, 1939.  

Hawk 75A-1 

The initial production version of the Hawk was designated Hawk 75A-1 
by Curtiss, of which 100 had been ordered by France.  According to the 
original plan, the majority of the Hawk 75A-1s were to be shipped by 
Curtiss in disassembled form to France, with assembly being completed 
in France by the Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques du 
Centre (SNCAC) at Bourges.  The first Hawk 75A-1 was flown at Buffalo 
early in December 1938, only a few days after the committed date.  The 
first Hawk 75A-1s (actually the fourth and fifth examples off the 
line) were delivered by ship to France on December 14, 1938.  Fourteen 
more Hawk 75A-1s were delivered in fully-assembled form for Armee de 
l'Air trials, but the rest were delivered in disassembled form.  The 
first assembly was commenced by SNCAC in February 1939.  

During March and April of 1939, the 4e and 5e Escadres de Chasse had 
initiated conversion from the Dewoitine 500 and 501, and by July 1, 
1939 the 4e Escadre had 54 Curtiss fighters on strength and the 5e 
Escadre had 41.  The conversion had not been without problems, one 
Hawk 75A-1 having crash- landed when an over-speeding propeller had 
caused the engine to overheat, and another one had been destroyed in a 
fatal crash as a result of a flat spin that developed during aerobatic 
trials with full fuel tanks.  Throughout the entire service history of 
the Hawk 75A, there were problems with maneuverability and handling 
when all the fuel tanks were completely full.  

The Hawk 75A-1 was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC-G engine, 
with an international rating of 900 hp at 12,000 feet and 950 hp for 
takeoff.  Armament comprised four 7.5 mm machine guns, two mounted in 
the upper decking of the fuselage nose and two in the wings.  Apart 
from the altitude indicator, all instruments were metric calibrated.  
A modified seat was fitted to accommodate the French Lemercier back 
parachute.  The throttle operated in the "French fashion", i.e.  in 
the reverse direction to the throttles of British or US aircraft.  

France used the manufacturer's model number as the official 
designation, and numbered the aircraft consecutively within the model.  
This information appeared in three lines on the rudder as so: 

			CURTISS 

			H75-C1 

			No.  09 

The C stood for Chasse (pursuit) and the 1 indicated a single-seater, 
and the 09 was the ninth H75 ordered by France.  

Hawk 75A-2 

Following the placing of the initial French order for the Hawk 75A in 
May of 1938, an option had been taken for 100 more machines.  This 
option was converted into a firm order on March 8, 1939.  These 
aircraft differed from the A-1 in having an additional 7.5 mm machine 
gun in each wing, some structural reinforcement of the rear fuselage, 
and the minor modifications necessary to permit interchangeability 
between the R-1830-SC-G and the more powerful R-1830-SC2-G, the latter 
affording 1050 hp for takeoff.  

The new model was designated Hawk 75A-2 by Curtiss.  The four wing 
guns and the new engine made the Hawk 75A-2 more or less equivalent to 
the US Army's XP-36D.  The first A-2 was delivered to France at the 
end of May, 1939.  The first 40 of these were basically similar to the 
A-1 in both powerplant and armament.  The first A-2 to have both the 
uprated engine and the increased armament was actually the 48th off 
the Buffalo line.  French Air Force numbering continued from the Hawk 
75A-1, the first Hawk 75A-2 being numbered 101.  

Hawk 75A-3 

One hundred and thirty-five of the Hawk 75A-3 version were ordered by 
France on October 9, 1939, with improved 1200 hp R-1830-S1C3G engines 
and armament similar to that of the A-2 (six 7.5-mm machine guns).  
Maximum speed was 311 mph at 10,000 feet.  Initial climb rate was 2350 
feet per minute, service ceiling was 33,700 feet, and range was 820 
miles.  Wingspan was 37 feet 3 1/2 inches, length was 28 feet 7 
inches, and wing area was 236 square feet.  Weights were 4483 lbs 
empty, 5692 lbs gross.  About sixty Hawk 75A-3s reached France before 
the surrender, with the rest being diverted to Britain.  

Hawk 75A-4 

The last French order before the Armistice was for 795 Hawk 75A-4 
aircraft.  These were armed like the A-3s but were fitted with 1200 hp 
Wright R-1820-G205A Cyclone engines.  Cyclone-powered 75s could be 
distinguished from Twin Wasp models by their short-chord cowlings of 
slightly greater diameter and by the absence of engine cowling flaps 
and bulbous nose gun port covers.  Maximum speed was 323 mph at 15,100 
feet.  Initial climb rate was 2820 feet per minute, service ceiling 
was 32,700 feet, and range was 670 miles.  Weights were 4541 lbs 
empty, 5750 lbs gross.  Wingspan was 27 feet 3 1/2 inches and length 
was 28 feet 10 inches.  Only two hundred and eighty-four of these A-4s 
were actually built, and of these, only six A-4s actually reached 
France before the surrender.  

The French Hawks were in action from almost the first day that the war 
began in Europe.  On September 8, 1939, the Groupe de Chasse II/4, 
operating Hawk 75As succeeded in destroying two Messerschmitt Bf 
109Es, the first Allied aerial victories of World War 2.  However, 
during the invasion of France in May of 1940, the Hawks were generally 
outmatched by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E.  The Hawk 75A served with 
Armee de l'Air Groupes de Chasse III/2, I/4, II/4, I/5 and II/5, these 
units claiming 230 confirmed kills and 80 "probables", as against 
losses totaling only 29 aircraft destroyed in aerial combat.  Although 
these figures are probably over-optimistic, it seems likely that the 
French Hawks gave better than they got.  The Hawk 75A was neither as 
fast nor as well-armed as the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, but it was more 
maneuverable and could take more punishment.  The leading French ace 
of 1939/40 was Lt Marin La Meslee, who scored 20 "kills" while flying 
the Hawk.  

Only 291 Hawk 75A fighters were actually taken on strength by the 
Armee de l'Air before the collapse of French resistance, but a number 
were lost en route to French ports.  As mentioned before, only six 
A-4s actually reached France before the Armistice.  Thirty A-4s 
destined for France were lost at sea during transit, seventeen were 
disembarked in Martinique and a further six were unloaded in 
Guadeloupe.  These machines were, incidentally, shipped from the West 
Indies to Morocco during 1943-44, placed in flying condition and used 
for training, their unreliable Cyclone 9 engines being replaced by 
Twin Wasps.  The rest of the French Hawk 75A-4 order was taken over by 
Britain as Mohawk IVs.  

After the collapse of French resistance, those Armee de l'Air Hawks 
which had not escaped to unoccupied French territory or flown to 
England were taken over by the Luftwaffe.  Some of the Armee de l'Air 
Hawk 75As were captured while still in their delivery crates.  These 
were transported to Germany, whey they were overhauled and assembled 
by the Espenlaub Flugzeugbau, fitted with German instrumentation, and 
then sold to Finland.  Finland received 36 former Armee de l'Air Hawk 
75A-1s, A-2s and A-3s, along with eight former Norwegian Hawk 75A-6s.  
These Finnish Hawks participated in the war on the Axis side when 
Finland entered the war against the Soviet Union on June 25, 1941.  
These Hawks gave a good account of themselves in Finnish service, and 
some Hawks remained in service in Finland until 1948.  

After the Armistice, Armee de l'Air Groupes de Chasse I/4 and I/5 
continued flying their Hawks with the Vichy Air Force, the former unit 
based at Dakar and the latter at Rabat.  These Vichy Hawk 75As were to 
fight against other American planes when the Allies made the Operation 
Torch landings in North Africa in November 1942.  In an air battle 
between these Hawks and carrier-based Grumman F4F Wildcats, 15 Vichy 
planes were shot down versus the loss of seven Wildcats.  This is one 
of the few occasions during the Second World War in which 
American-built planes fought against each other.  

Sources: 

  Curtiss Aircraft, 1907-1947, Peter M Bowers, Naval Institute Press, 
  1979 

  The Curtiss Hawk 75, Aircraft in Profile No.  80, Profile 
  Publications, Ltd.  1966 

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William 
  Green, Doubleday, 1961.  

  Air Enthusiast, Volume 1, William Green et al, Doubleday, 1971.  

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548