International Hawk

Air Classics, Jul 2003 by O'Leary, Michael

THE SAGA OF THE CURTISS P-36/HAWK 75 THE FIGHTER THAT OPERATED WITH ALLIED AND AXIS FORCES DURING WORLD WAR TWO

Lieutenant G.H. Sterling, sweating in the cockpit of his Curtiss P-36A, was wishing that he had an aircraft with more horsepower, more guns, more maneuverability...more everything. It was 0855 hrs on the morning of 7 December 1941, and, over Wheeler Field, Lt. Sterling was having very little time to think about much else except surviving. Sterling had managed to get off the ground at Wheeler Field with two other 46th Pursuit Squadron P-36As. With huge columns of smoke billowing up from Pearl Harbor and the airfields in the vicinity, it was not hard for the P-36 pilots to find action.

Anti-aircraft fire, now that the initial surprise of the devastating Japanese attack had somewhat passed, was pouring into the sky and any aircraft was considered a target - even if they were friendly. Just before 0800 hrs, aerial units of the Imperial Japanese Navy had staged a perfectly executed attack on American bases located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Dive and horizontal bombers, torpedo aircraft and fighters smashed the American facilities with precision in the initial assault. At 0840 hrs, a second wave of enemy aircraft continued the attack. The Navy had suffered the worst losses in its long history, Arizona, California, West Virginia were sunk, Oklahoma had rolled over, and the Nevada was blazing from numerous hits. Smoke and explosions were filling the air over Pearl as the P-36s clawed for altitude.

About 25 bombers had hit Wheeler Field shortly after 0800, causing heavy damage to the aircraft that were parked closely together and to the facilities and hangars at the Army base. During a brief lull in the aerial attack, the three P-36As managed to get into the air with orders to proceed to Bellows Field to patrol the area and attack bombers at will. With throttles all the way to the stop, the P-36As dodged bursts of anti-aircraft fire as they headed towards Bellows. Bellows had not been hit as hard as Hickam or Wheeler but nine Zekes had strafed the field without opposition or any positive results from the limited anti-aircraft fire that the Army was able to put up.

The Curtiss fighters arrived over Bellows shortly after the strafing attack and spotted nine Val dive bombers heading towards Bellows. The pilots immediately waded into the surprised enemy formation. Sterling kicked his right rudder pedal over hard as he selected the fat fuselage of a Val that had broken formation. Closing rapidly against the fixed-gear bomber, Sterling quickly settled the aircraft in his sights and hit the trigger, sending off several bursts of .30- and .50-cal machine gun fire from the two guns located in the upper forward fuselage. Although the firepower of the P-36A was anything but adequate, the well-aimed bursts from Sterling's guns were devastating against the unarmored Val. With its fuel tanks unprotected, the steel-jacketed slugs from the P-36A instantly turned the Val into an inferno and the blazing aircraft plunged to the ground - the two Japanese airmen going to meet their ancestors much sooner than they probably wished.

Enemy aircraft were everywhere over Oahu so targets were not a problem but the ill-equipped hunters soon became the hunted. Superlative Mitsubishi Zeke fighters - a type unleashed with complete surprise against the Americans - were soon after the P-36As. One of the other Curtiss pilots managed to flame another bomber before being pounced upon by the fighters. Two of the three P-36As managed to get back to Wheeler but Lt. Sterling - the first American pilot to score a victory over Pearl - had fallen to the guns of the avenging Zekes.

The Curtiss P-36A had its moment of combat glory - at least in Army hands on 7 December 1941. Soon after, the woefully inadequate fighters were retired to secondline duties or to training units. However, history books would have to record the significant fact that the first Japanese aircraft to be claimed as destroyed by the USAAF was a victim of the Curtiss P-36A and a brave pilot.

The Curtiss P-36, along with the Seversky P-35, was the bridge between biplanes and modern fighter aircraft for the USAAF. Both aircraft were entered in a particularly hardfought contest that was to have curious final results. Both machines were less than adequate in all categories of performance but they did manage to change the rather staid thinking of the American military and to help aircraft factories tool up for the coming conflict.

If the P-36 had served with just the US Army, then its story would have been short indeed. The build-up of war tensions meant that European nations - as well as many other smaller countries - were frantic to obtain as many combat-ready aircraft as they could as soon as possible. The Curtiss design happened to be at the right place at the right time. The P-36 design was available to be quickly mass-produced and supplied to foreign nations and it was with some of these countries that the design achieved its greatest success.