Curtiss P-36 Hawk

I think the SAAF used about 75 H-75A-4 Mohawks in South Africa and the campaign against the Italians in Africa.

Here is a link with 2 black and white photo’s:
http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/aircraft/221/h-75a-4-mohawk

I’ll try to find out more when I get home this evening.

Looking at that first photo again, I got to wondering…..did any Hawk 75A-1’s have the six-gun fit of the later models?

In one of the profile drawings in the Osprey book, there is an A-1 with six guns, but I wasn’t sure if that was just an error on the part of the artist or what? The book doesn’t mention six guns on any A-1’s.

Anyone have any idea?

I helped recover quite a bit of an RAF Mohawk, BK877 from a meadow in Wiltshire a couple of years ago. Brief story here:
http://www.redkitebooks.co.uk/aa/ex06_Mohawk_Wiltshire.html
There were some interesting US to French to British modifications. Here, hopefully is rudder pedal. Really got my interest in the type going. A very attractive and rugged aircraft.

Some amazing shots you have found there! Wonderful the things you can find on the internet isn’t it?

I’d never seen a picture of a fixed-gear Hawk until just a few days ago.

Curtiss types

Go to the Life Google Archive….search terms Hart Preston Argentina….Hart Preston Libya….Dmitri Kessel Curtiss…..Dmitri Kessel Maneuvres….all produce Curtisses, the first Argentinian Hawks, the last a P-40 in formation with a P-43…longshot….or put the search terms in the box by the linked photos

http://images.google.com/images?q=hart+preston+argentina&q=source%3Alife

Curtiss H-75

Phantom

Suggest you find a copy of Les Curtiss H-75 de l’armee de L’Air bu Lionel Persyn. Nice read if you can read french, however the photo’s are captioned in English as well as French and quite simply the number and quality are brilliant.

Buz

To comment on the Osprey books, that’s exactly why I read them. There is always a good tidbit or two in each book that is something new to me. Additionally, the first-hand accounts from those who were there is simply superb reading.

As for the P-36, I’ve always wondered what the fixed-gear variants looked like, and so that picture of the example in the Thai Museum is a gem I’ve not yet seen.

Interesting fitment of ordnance to….are those 20-lb. frag bombs perhaps? Also, the cannon pods look like the 23-mm Madsen cannons that were tested on one of the P-36 variants (XP-36D or F maybe?) Anyone have more information about that particular picture and the weapons in it?

The Osprey book on the P-36 is indeed a great read, and I really do recommend it to anyone who is a fan of this warbird as it saw a lot more combat than I had previously thought. I learned so much in that volume alone, and yes I agree, it is an airplane that just looks right.

Did anyone know that apparently the P-36/Hawk 75 could turn with some of the more nimble Japanese planes such as the Ki-43 and Ki-27? That fact is brought up a few times in the Osprey book, and it’s certainly something I didn’t know.

Off thread but on the quality of the Osprey series, I picked up “American nightfighter aces” today and learned something new. US Navy used Ventura’s as “make shift” nightfighters the same way the air force used Havocs as P-70’s. Worth it IMO just for that little gem and I’ve not even read it yet.

Funny that you have posted a thread on the Hawk 75a.I have just finished reading an article about them in a 1970 issue of Air Classics.I have always liked them ,they just look right somehow.In the article it states that Farnborough tested a French Hawk against a Mk1 Spitfire and in maneouverability it could out turn the Spit,which quite surprised me.You learn something everyday.

There is also the Thai Air Force Museum one

http://peterlewisdesign.tripod.com/thaimuseum/hawk75.htm

Wow… thats a new one on me. I can think of a few warbird operators that would like to get there hands on that one.!

I’m currently finishing up the new Osprey Aircraft of the Aces title “P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2”, and I have to say it has been a fascinating read. Anyone with any interest in this airplane in particular or in some of the more obscure aircraft of the conflict would do well to give this one a try.

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You and I have posted before on the Osprey series I think Phantom II- this one is great quality and brings out a lot of combat history, especially with the French air force which I found very enjoyable.

There is also the Thai Air Force Museum one

http://peterlewisdesign.tripod.com/thaimuseum/hawk75.htm

Beautiful photo!

Hawk 75A-1?

dont TFC have one?

this one?