In War Thunder we can see three P-36 Hawk variants in the game, located in US tech tree, two Hawk 75s in French tree and one Hawk 75 in German tree. But there are many more Hawk fighter variants stored in game files. Most of them belong to either French, German or Finnish air force. Designated Hawk 75 or H-75.
At the end of the 1930s, a critical situation had emerged with France's fighter air force. It primarily consisted of the sub-par Dewoitine D.510 and Morane-Saulnier MS.406, and their new models did not come close to meeting military requirements. The government and army command, troubled by the state of the national defenses, were forced to resort to commissioning planes overseas.
In March 1938, the French test pilot Michel Détroyat was dispatched to the USA with the task of reviewing the Curtiss company's produce. The company asked quite a high price per plane, but Détroyat's high praise of the P-36 tipped the scales against financial considerations.
In May 1938, each party signed a contract for the delivery of 100 Hawk 75A-1 (or H.75A-1, the export designation of the P-36A) to France, along with 170 Twin Wasp engines. The planes made for France differed from those made for the USAAC in their inboard armament and Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC-G Twin Wasp engines with a maximum output of 950 hp.The plane's armament now consisted of two 7.5 mm synchronized Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 (Browning) machine guns in the fuselage with 600 rounds each, and two 7.5 mm Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 (Browning) mounted on the wing panels with 500 rounds each.
Bomb racks were installed on the underside wing panels. Their standard combat load was 10 bombs with a caliber of 10 kg.
The planes used the French OPL RX 39 sight. All its instruments were re-calibrated for the metric system. The pilot's seating was adapted for use with the French shoulder parachute, and the throttle control lever worked French-style, in the opposite direction of the lever in American and English planes.
Sixteen finished fighters were delivered by sea, while the remainder were to be assembled by the French themselves. Crates containing Hawk 75-A1 planes arrived in French ports on ships and were then taken by rail to Bourges, where the fighters were assembled at an SNCAC (Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques du Centre) plant. The French order was fully fulfilled between December 1938 and April 1939.
Germany captured six Hawk 75-A1 French Armée de l'Air planes and sent them to Finland in 1941. The Finnish fighters were equipped with the German-made Revi 12d sight and the FuG 7a radio.
- Curtiss H75-C1-39 (France, year 1939)
- Curtiss H75-C1-2 (France)
The first Hawk 75A-2 was delivered to the French in May 1939. The next order followed on 9 October 1939, after World War II had begun. It contained 135 Hawk 75A-3 planes.
The only difference between these planes and the Hawk 75A-2 was the engine. They were powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C3-G Twin Wasp engines with a maximum output of 1,200 hp. Their armament (both guns and bombs) was completely identical to that of the Hawk 75A-2. This order was fulfilled in January-April 1940.
- Curtiss H75-C1-V (Free France)
- Curtiss H75-C1-V (Vichy France)
The last order fulfilled for the French Armée de l'Air consisted of Curtiss Hawk 75A-4 fighters. In total, the French ordered 285 of these planes.
The Hawk 75A-4 series was powered by the twin-row 9-cylinder air-cooled Wright GR-1820-G205A Cyclone engine with a maximum output of 1,200 hp. Designers had to completely rework this model's nose section due to the installation of its new engine.
These planes were the fastest in the H.75 family. Their maximum speed reached 520 km/h at a height of 4,600 m. Their gun and bomb armament was completely identical to that of the Hawk 75A-2.
By the time the French surrendered to the Germans, France had succeeded in receiving only six Hawk 75A-4 planes. Thirty more planes of this type sank to the bottom of the Bay of Biscay along with their transport, sunk by German aircraft.
In total, 316 fighters in the H.75 family were introduced into the French Arm・ie de l'Air. Regardless of their model, the planes received the shared designation H.75-C1 ("C" for "Chasse", meaning "fighter" and "1" meaning single-seat).
The Hawk 75A fighters were in many ways inferior to their primary enemy in the European skies, the German Bf.109E-3, but nonetheless, a capable pilot could outmaneuver the Messerschmitt in maneuvering engagements. In addition, the American plane's solid structure withstood significant battle damage. In intensive aerial skirmishes, many French pilots in Curtiss Hawk 75s shot down several German planes each.
Before 10 months of the war had passed in Europe, Curtiss Hawk 75 pilots had won 230 confirmed victories and 81 "probable" victories. Out of the first ten aces in the French Armée de l'Air, eight flew a H.75, and seven of them were part of GC I/5. The most successful pilot of the times in the French Armée de l'Air, Lieutenant Edmon Marin la Meslee, flew a Curtiss Hawk 75 in the GC I/5 first squadron. He had 16 confirmed victories and 4 unconfirmed victories against German planes.
Not long before France's surrender, the decision was taken to move the remaining H.75A fighters to North Africa, but not all the French Armée de l'Air pilots rushed to obey the order from their demoralized command. Instead of flying south, some pilots turned their planes to the northwest, towards Britain. These fighters, along with some of the fighters from the first Norwegian order, were supplemented by the new Curtiss Hawk 75A-4 planes which had just arrived from the USA (after France's defeat, all the planes it had ordered were redirected to Britain). The unit now possessed a formidable number of planes - 227 in all.
All the Curtiss Hawk 75s were integrated into the Royal Air Force under the general designation Mohawk. At the same time, each model received its own numeric notation. The H.75A-1 was now called the Mohawk Mk.I, the H.75A-2 and H.75A-6 - the Mohawk Mk.II, and the H.75A-3 - the Mohawk Mk.III. All the planes were rearmed with British 7.7 mm Browning Mk.II .303 machine guns. The French thrust lever was replaced with an English lever, i.e., the engine rpm speed now increased as the throttle control lever was pushed away from the pilot. The fighters were repainted according to British standards and put in storage as RAF reserve planes.
The newest Curtiss Hawk 75A-4 (Mohawk Mk.IV) planes, having the best flight characteristics of all the Curtiss Hawk 75s, underwent more significant refinement. Apart from the 7.7 mm Browning Mk.II .303 machine guns, they were equipped with English instruments, Barr & Stroud Mk.II sights and radios. Bullet-proof glass was installed in the frontal section of the cockpit, along with a mirror to provide a rear view.
The plane's armament now included two 7.7 mm synchronized Browning Mk.II .303 in the fuselage with 600 rounds each and four 7.7 mm Browning MkII .303 machine guns mounted on the wing panels with 500 rounds each. The bomb racks mounted on the underside wing panels remained in place.
In 1940-1941, 76 Mohawks went into service with the South African Air Force (SAAF). In October-November 1941, these planes participated in combat operations against Italian colonial forces in Ethiopia, and then patrolled the shores of the Indian Ocean to provide anti-air defenses to British colonies in Africa.
The Portuguese Air Force (Forca Aerea Portuguesa, FAP), received 12 more Mohawks in October 1941, as part of a mutual military aid agreement between Britain and Portugal. India received another batch of British Mohawk fighters. These planes fought in India and Burma from December 1941.
Britain removed the Mohawk fighters from service in its military in 1944.
Apart from France, a number of other countries also displayed interest in the Curtiss Hawk 75A, mainly the ones already familiar with the Curtiss company's previous designs. The Chinese became the first customers potentially interested in the plane, and a demonstration model of the Curtiss Hawk 75A-5 was built specially for them. This model was powered by the 9-cylinder single-row Wright GR-1820-G205A Cyclone engine with a maximum output of 1,200 hp.
The plane was similar to the Curtiss Hawk 75A-4, and differed from the French planes in its six 7.62 mm Colt-Browning machine guns. This meant that the Curtiss Hawk 75A-5's armament included two 7.62 mm synchronized Colt-Browning ANM2.3 machine guns in the fuselage with 600 rounds each and four 7.62 mm Colt-Browning ANM2.3 mounted on the wing panels with 500 rounds each. Bomb racks were mounted on the underside wing panels.
The demonstration Curtiss Hawk 75A-5 plane, along with a set of spare parts and equipment, was sent to the Far East with a view to organizing licensed production in China at the Loy-Wing aircraft plant.
However, before full-scale assembly could be implemented, Japanese aircraft bombed the plant, and production was moved to a Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) aircraft plant in Bangalore, India.
In 1942, the HAL aircraft plant in India planned to produce 48 planes, but succeeded in producing only five, and those with difficulty. The plant went on to decline the undertaking, as the project turned out to be simply beyond the strength of the local industry.
Work came to a halt after the production of the five planes, and all the fighters built were given English equipment and added to the RAF's forces with the designation Mohawk Mk.IV.
For a long time, the Mohawks were the only relatively modern allied fighters in North-East India. In May 1942, when the Japanese invaded Burma, they fulfilled air defense and bomber escort roles.
In January 1943, Mohawks were redirected to attack operations against Japanese river and coastal vessels. However, the plane was not originally designed as an attack aircraft, and did not achieve success in this role. Its weak machine gun armament was ineffective against ground and sea targets. On the other hand, the Mohawk could certainly hold its own against air targets.
The Norwegian government also ordered 25 Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters from the USA. The Hawk 75A-6s from the Norwegian order were powered by the twin-row 14-cylinder radial Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C3-G Twin Wasp engine with a maximum output of 1,200 hp.
The aircraft's inboard armament consisted of two 7.7 mm synchronized Browning Mk.II .303 machine guns in the fuselage with 600 rounds each and two 7.7 mm Browning Mk.II .303 machine guns mounted on the wing panels with 500 rounds each. Bomb racks were installed on the underside wing panels.
In December 1939, the Curtiss company produced 12 of these aircraft. Norway obtained a license to build another 24 copies of the fighter, but their political situation forced them to abandon plans to produce the airplanes through their own means. They decided to purchase another 12 of them from the USA instead.
After German aggression against Norway began, not one Norwegian Curtiss Hawk 75A-6 was able to go into battle against the Nazis. Out of the twelve airplanes delivered, four of them were destroyed in the first minutes of the war in an airfield bombing. German raiders soon captured the remaining aircraft in the same place, and after performing some tests, Germany sold them to Finland. The remainder of the Norwegian order was sent to France instead of then-occupied Norway, and was later moved to Britain, where the aircraft were assembled, tweaked according to British standards and put into service in the RAF with the designation Mohawk Mk.III.
Apart from the eight Norwegian Curtiss Hawk 75A-6 fighters, Germany also sent Finland 36 captured French Curtiss Hawk 75s of all models, captured during the spring-summer campaign of 1940. Twenty-one aircraft arrived in 1941, an additional twelve came at the beginning of 1943, and finally, the last three arrived in 1944. The formerly Norwegian Hawk 75A-6s were first delivered to the TLeLv 14 aerial reconnaissance squadron, but all the Finnish Curtiss Hawk 75s were later grouped into the HLeLv 32 fighter division. This squadron actively participated in combat operations against Soviet aircraft.
- Hawk 75 A-7 (The Netherlands)
The Netherlands became another European customer of the Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters. The Curtiss Hawk 75A-7 fighters of the Dutch order were powered by the same engine as the Hawk 75A-5: the 9-cylinder single-row air-cooled Wright GR-1820-G205A Cyclone with a maximum output of 1,200. However, the aircraft possessed more powerful weaponry than the prototype. The Hawk 75A-7 was armed with one large-caliber 12.7 mm synchronized Colt-Browning ANM2.5 machine gun in the fuselage with 200 rounds, one 7.7 mm synchronized Browning Mk.II .303 machine gun in the fuselage with 600 rounds and two 7.7 mm Browning Mk.II .303 machine guns mounted on the wing panels with 500 rounds each. Bomb racks were mounted on the underside wing panels.
The Dutch ordered 24 Curtiss Hawk 75A-7 fighters in total, but the Curtiss company was unable to fulfill the order before the Germans occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. After the German forces' lightning-fast invasion of the country, the planes were sent directly from the USA to the Far East, where they joined the Military Aviation of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger, ML-KNIL) in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). In March 1941, the Curtiss Hawk 75A-7s arrived on the island of Java and went into service in the 1st and 2nd aviation units (Vliegtuigafdeling).
By the time the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, 16 of the aircraft were still in service. The remaining Curtiss Hawk 75A-7 had been written off due to engine breakdowns.
The Dutch Hawk 75A-7s went into battle against Japanese aircraft, but being outnumbered and of a lower quality than the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, they were not particularly successful. On 21 December 1941, out of four Hawk 75A-7s sent to attack Japanese military facilities, only one returned. In January 1942, five more of the planes were lost. On 3 February, four Hawk 75A-7s intercepted Japanese bombers flying with an A6M fighter escort to the city of Surabaya. The Dutch were able to shoot down a twin-engine Mitsubishi G3M bomber, but the fighter escort also shot down three Curtiss Hawks. The remaining Dutch Hawk 75A-7s were destroyed in an attack on the airfield they were based at on 5 February 1942.
In an analysis of the export opportunities of the Curtiss Hawk 75, specialists at the Curtiss company came to the conclusion that few countries were interested in purchasing very modern and expensive planes. For the so-called "minor" air forces with a small budget, the main concerns were usually the price of the plane itself and its spare parts, maintenance ease, ease of use for pilots with average training, and finally, the ability to fulfill several roles at once: fighter, light bomber, tactical scout and so forth.
It was for these customers that the company developed the simplified Curtiss Hawk 75. The Model 75H had fixed landing gear housed in fairings and the less powerful 840 hp Wright GR-1820-G3 engine. It had no radio. Its armament consisted of four machine guns, one large-caliber (two synchronized machine guns above the engine and two in the wing). The design also allowed for the installation of two bomb racks, each of which could carry a bomb weighing up to 136 kg.
China bought one of the demonstration Model 75H fighters in 1938 and later gave it over for personal use to General Claire L. Chennault, who was organizing the Chinese air force. After this, China was in desperate need of fighters and purchased another 112 planes with the designation Curtiss Hawk 75M (Model 75M). In May-September 1938, 30 of these were built and sent to the customer, along with 82 component sets for assembly in China itself at the Loy-Wing plant.
The Curtiss Hawk 75M fighters differed outwardly from the Model 75Hs in their slightly altered landing gear fairings.
The Model 75M fighters were powered by the single-row 9-cylinder air-cooled Wright GR-1820-G56 Cyclone engine with a maximum output of 875 hp. The plane's armament consisted of one 7.62 mm synchronized Colt-Browning ANM2.3 machine gun in the fuselage with 600 rounds, one large-caliber 12.7 mm synchronized Colt-Browning ANM2.5 machine gun in the fuselage with 200 rounds and two 7.62 mm Colt-Browning ANM2.3 machine guns on the wing panels with 500 rounds each. Bomb racks were mounted on the underside wing panels.
In spite of attempts to make them simpler, the Curtiss Hawk 75M fighters were still too complex for Chinese pilots hastily trained during wartime. As a result, the majority of the planes China received were destroyed in crashes and accidents. They were also not destined for success in battle, the Japanese were too great in number and had superior aircraft.
The last Chinese Curtiss Hawk 75Ms were removed from service in 1942.
The Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) government also expressed an interest in the Curtiss Hawk 75. It went on to sign a contract with the Curtiss company for 25 Curtiss Hawk 75N (Model 75N) fighters. The planes made for Siam were very similar to the Curtiss Hawk 75M (Model 75M) fighters made for China, but had a different landing gear fairing design, altered armament and a number of minor upgrades. The armament on the Curtiss Hawk 75N (Model 75N) fighters was the most powerful of all the series-produced models. It included two large-caliber 12.7 mm synchronized Colt-Browning ANM2.5 machine guns in the fuselage with 200 rounds each and two Danish-made 23 mm Madsen cannons with 100 shells each. The cannons were installed in suspended underwing units.
The Siamese order was fulfilled In October-November 1938, but only 12 planes were sent to Indochina, with the remainder held back in the USA. After the US declared an embargo against delivering weaponry to Siam as a potential ally of Japan, these Curtiss Hawk 75Ns were sent to United States Army Air Corps storage facilities.
Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Curtiss Hawk 75N fighters actively participated in armed conflicts with French colonial forces at the end of 1940 and the beginning of 1941. They took their first combat flight on 11 January 1941, when the Curtiss Hawks covered nine Thai Martin 139W bombers.
On 7 December 1941, the RTAF Curtiss Hawks went into battle again, this time against the Japanese forces invading Thailand. A third of the Curtiss Hawk 75Ns in Thailand's possession were lost during this short campaign. The Japanese captured the remainder.
