Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Single-seat fighter

Power Plant:

(Hawk 75O)

One 653 kw (875 hp) Wright Cyclone GR-1820-G3 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 12.7 mm (0.50 in) and one 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine-gun; or one 12.7 mm (0.50 in) and three 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine-guns in wings; provision to carry up to 136 kg (300 lb) of bombs

History:

In 1934 Don R Berlin, chief engineer of the Curtiss Airplane Division of the Curtiss Wright Corporation, designed an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable undercarriage. The prototype was constructed as a private venture and was flown for the first time in 1935 with an experimental Wright XR-1670-5 two-row air-cooled radial engine. After some testing it was extensively modified and emerged in April 1936 with a Wright XR-1820-39 single-row nine-cylinder radial engine.

As the Hawk 75-B it was tested by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and three were ordered for evaluation, production aircraft becoming the Curtiss P-36 with the 709 kw (950 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-13 Twin Wasp engine. Orders were then placed for 210 P-36As (Company designation Model 75-L).

At about this time orders were received from the Chinese Government for 112 (Model 75-M), 25 for the Royal Thai Air Force (Model 75-N) and 30 for Argentina (Model 75-O). The latter obtained a licence to manufacture the type in a Government facility at Cordoba, building about 200 aircraft.

An order was received from a French Purchasing Commission for 100 Curtiss 75-A1s (Model 75-Q) for the Armee de l’Air. The latter were fitted with a 783 kw (1,050 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G engine, and two 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine-guns in the fuselage and two similar weapons in the wings. Supplementary orders were received from France but only 291 aircraft reached France before it was overrun by the German Wehrmacht. Subsequently some survivors were used by the Vichy Air Force.

Many French aircraft were captured by German forces, some still in their delivery crates. These were transported to Germany where they were overhauled and fitted with German instruments, Some were used for training and others were sold to Germany’s ally, Finland. The Finnish Air Force received 36 Hawk 75A-1s, 75A-2s and 75A-3s, and also eight Norwegian Hawk 75A-6s. Norway had ordered ten Hawk 75A-6s with the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G engine and subsequently ordered a further 12, ten being received before that country’s collapse. A further 36 Hawk 75A-8s were ordered by Norway but these were seized by the US Government, becoming known as the Curtiss P-36G and wbeing delivered to the Norwegian training establishment which was set up near Toronto in Canada.

Following the fall of France, outstanding French contracts were transferred to Britain where the type became known as the Curtiss Mohawk. Nearly 300 were received by Britain, many being fitted with six 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine-guns and British equipment, eventually being sent to India for the Indian Air Force, with which they saw service on the Burma front. Examples went to the Portuguese Air Force and the SAAF in East Africa.

The type was to be built under licence in India, and five were completed, but this plan was abandoned. A number of Hawk 75A-9s were supplied to Iran but were never assembled, were discovered in their crates in August 1941, and were put into use by the RAF in the Far East.

The Netherlands Government ordered 35 but this was reduced to 24 and, after the fall of that country, they were diverted to the Netherlands East Indies where they saw service against Japanese forces in 1941. Sixteen Hawk 75A-7s were airworthy at the time of the Japanese onslaught and four were fitted with bomb racks to carry 22.7 kg (50 lb) bombs. By February 1941 the survivors were concentrated in Java but after a few defensive efforts the last of the Hawks were destroyed by Japanese fighters.

Some 39 Curtiss P-36 fighters were in service with the 15th Pursuit Group of the USAAC when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbour in  Hawaii in December 1941 and most aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Four aircraft of No 46 Squadron managed to intercept nine Japanese aircraft and destroyed two, claiming the first USAAC kills of the Pacific War.

French Hawks fought against the Luftwaffe when France was attacked. In September 1939 two of a flight of five Messerschmitt Bf 109s were shot down. By the time of the fall of France, French Hawks claimed 230 kills and 81 probables. Although the Hawk 75 compared poorly with the Spitfire and Bf 109E, it had a number of excellent qualities, being easy to fly, with exceptional handling characteristics, and well-harmonised controls.

The Hawk (or Mohawk) in 1941 was in service with No 155 Squadron RAF and by the following year this unit was operating in north east India. One pilot with the unit was Pilot Officer A Haley [RAAF], who was involved in action on 10 November 1942 when eight Hawks from the unit escorted six Blenheims to bomb Akyab Docks in Burma. On 24 November 1942 the unit was moved to Agartala under the command of Sqdn Ldr D W A Stones DFC [RAF] who at that time handed the squadron over to Sqdn Ldr C G Jefferies DFC. On 24 November 1942 six Hawks were scrambled to intercept 24 Japanese bombers and on this occasion P/O Haley flying Curtiss Mohawk III BK584 was shot down,believed to have been killed. The aircraft wreck has never been found and the pilot is still missing.

In March 2004 a Hawk 75 arrived at Omaka Aerodrome, near Blenheim, NZ for restoration. This machine, one of 24 Curtiss H75-A6 models, was built to a French order but, after the fall of France, was diverted to the Norwegian Air Force. It was captured by advancing German forces and repainted in Luftwaffe markings, seeing service as a fighter trainer. It later found its way to the Finnish Air Force and saw combat over the Karelian Peninsula. It is believed to have shot down four Russian aircraft before itself being shot down and crashing into a forested area. It lay at its crash site until recovered in 2001 and conveyed to Moscow in  Russia. It received some restoration work for a museum but was placed on the market and sold to a New Zealand owner, work commencing on its long-term restoration at Omaka. However, after spending some years under restoration it was sold overseas and exported.

Another Hawk 75 was restored in the United States as G-CCVH for The Fighter Collection at Duxford, UK, the wings of this aircraft being restored by Pioneer Aero in New Zealand.