At the National Museum of the United States Air Force, many visitors will see an unfamiliar aircraft at the entrance to the WWII gallery. The museum’s display of the gleaming silver fighter coded “86” on the fuselage, features a pilot boarding the plane in his pajamas, with an M1911 pistol belt fastened around his waist. That pilot was 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen of the 46th Pursuit Squadron, based at Wheeler Field on Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. His aircraft was a Curtiss P-36A Hawk fighter, one of four that managed to get airborne and contest the Japanese air attacks on Pearl Harbor.
Not many people know Lt. Rasmussen, “The Pajama Pilot”, or his role in aviation history. Even fewer know about the Curtiss Hawk, one of the first of the new generation of all-metal, monoplane fighters developed during the mid-1930s. Many boilerplate reviews of the Curtiss Hawk fighter will repeat the same old saws of “obsolete” and “unable to compete with Axis fighters”. A deeper examination of its international service record during World War II tells a much different story.
Before Pearl Harbor
The P-36A fighter that Lt. Rasmussen flew at Pearl Harbor had won the U.S. Army Air Corp’s (USAAC) 1937 fighter competition. Powered by a 950 hp Wright XR-1820 Cyclone engine, the new plane performed so well in the 1937 USAAC competition that it generated a USAAC order for 210 P-36A fighters built by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The P-36, also known as the “Hawk 75″, was an advanced design for its time, similar to the British Spitfire and German Bf 109.
As Nazi Germany became more aggressive, military planners in England and France began to look to America as a reliable source for modern military aircraft. Even though the United States was officially neutral (until December 1941), American aircraft manufacturers were cleared to sell “export-approved” variants of their products. Aircraft producers like Curtiss welcomed representatives from traditional American allies in Western Europe, and the RAF and Armee De L’Air were very interested in the Hawk 75. American industry’s role as the “Arsenal of Democracy” began in earnest with the Curtiss Hawk.
As for the P-36’s combat career with the U.S. Army Air Corps, it started and ended at Pearl Harbor. Of the 39 P-36A Hawks stationed at Pearl Harbor, a total of five took off to intercept the second wave of Japanese aircraft attacking the Hawaiian Islands. P-36 fighters claimed several victories that day and were officially credited with two A6M2 “Zero” fighters (one by Lt. Rasmussen) shot down for the first American aerial victories of WWII.
The Pajama Pilot tangled with multiple Zeros over Kaneohe and is said to have returned to base with his P-36 riddled with nearly 500 bullet holes. Interestingly, well before Rasmussen earned his Silver Star on December 7, 1941, the American-made Curtiss fighter was already an international combat veteran.
Flying for France
The French were keenly interested in the P-36, even before the Curtiss fighter entered production. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army Air Corps immediately opposed the sale of the P-36 to France. American industry was slowly recovering from the Great Depression, and deliveries to the Air Corps were slow. Just as French officials felt the urgent need to procure modern fighters in preparation for a potential war, so did many American leaders. Exporting Hawk fighters to France felt more like competition than cooperation with an ally.
Consequently, negotiations bogged down over issues including cost and a delayed delivery schedule. Eventually, President Roosevelt intervened personally and secured a P-36 test flight for the Armee De L’Air. Suitably impressed with the Hawk, the French agreed to buy 100 aircraft and more than 170 engines. For export, the P-36’s American designation became “Hawk 75A-1”. The French designation was “Curtiss H75-C1”, and the first of them arrived in France in December 1938. By the spring of 1939, the Curtiss fighters were officially in French Air Force service, and 316 would ultimately be delivered to France before the June 1940 Armistice.
With several modifications made to meet Armee De L’Air standards (like metric instruments), the H75 quickly became one of France’s most important fighter aircraft. Armament consisted of either four or six 7.5mm Fabrique Nationale (FN) Mle 38 machine guns (7.5×54 mm). Cyclic rate of the Mle 38 was approximately 1,200 rounds per minute. On September 20, 1939, an H75A-1 recorded the first air-to-air kill for the Western Allies when Sgt. Legrand shot down one of the Luftwaffe’s highly regarded Bf 109E fighters. More would follow.
By the time of the French Armistice in June 1940, the H75 pilots were credited with 230 aerial victories (against just 29 combat losses), nearly a quarter of the Armee De L’Air’s total for the campaign. While not as fast or as heavily armed as the German Bf 109E and Bf 110C, the French pilots put the maneuverable H75 to good use in defense of their home, as seven of them became aces during the spring 1940 campaign, led by Lt. Edmund Marin La Meslée with 16 confirmed kills.
Several post-WWII assessments were quick to dismiss the Hawk 75s as “greatly inferior” to the German Bf 109E in 1940. However, the Hawk’s combat record in France contradicts those superficial investigations. Pilot accounts from American, French, and British pilots of the time state they were easy to fly and handled well in combat. They offered a short takeoff run and a good initial rate of climb, which served them well in the defense of France. The Hawk 75 also had good control at low speed. And while they were slower in level flight and less well armed than the German Bf 109E, even German sources admit that the Hawk was more maneuverable.
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As noted, the French uparmed some of their Hawk 75’s with six 7.5mm machine guns. At this time, the RAF armed their Hurricane and Spitfire fighters with eight .303 MG’s. At close range, the .30 caliber weapons spat out a great deal of lead, but the small caliber weapons struggled to inflict critical damage. The German Bf 109E, as well as the Japanese A6M Zero, carried a pair of 20mm cannons. While both Axis fighters carried only 60 rounds per gun for their 20mm cannons, the close-range destructive power of their explosive shells often made the difference in combat. After 1940, the prevailing wisdom in aircraft armament became that cannon (or heavy MG) armament was required. Unfortunately for the Curtiss Hawks, they had been developed before those combat lessons had been learned.
Flying for Vichy France
After the Armistice in June 1940, the French began to evacuate as many useful aircraft from metropolitan France as they could. Ultimately, 186 Hawk 75’s would be based in Vichy French North Africa — the majority of these were in Morocco. Vichy French Hawk 75’s would soon be in action against Fleet Air Arm aircraft during the British attack on the French navy at Mers-el-Kebir in July 1940. French Hawks claimed two FAA Blackburn Skuas shot down.
On September 20, 1940, Vichy Hawks intercepted British aircraft attacking Dakar, and three Fairey Swordfish plus a Walrus seaplane were claimed against the loss of one H-75.
By the time of Operation Torch in November 1942, the Vichy Hawks were wearing out and were increasingly difficult to maintain. They had been slated to be replaced by Dewoitine D. 520s in late 1941, but the D. 520s never arrived. Approximately 75 Hawks remained in service when the Allies landed, and Vichy leaders chose to resist. At that moment, the French were fighting back.
On November 8, 1942, a group of F4F Wildcat fighters of VF-41 attacked a Hawk 75 formation taking off near Casablanca. Eleven Hawks were shot down, and five French pilots were killed. Two more Hawks were shot up on the field. However, the American force did not get away unscathed, as the Hawks shot down five of the invading Wildcats.
Lieutenant Charles “Windy” Shields of VF-41 from the USS Ranger (CV-4) described the action from his perspective in the cockpit of a US Navy F4F Wildcat, in the book “Wildcats Over Casablanca” by Lt. M. T. Wordell, and Lt. E. N. Seiler, published in 1943:
“Another pair of P-36’s came into sight, but they turned away. This gave me a kind of invincible feeling. They were scared of me, even if I was alone. Then below my starboard wing tip I saw a French P-36 coming into land, but I was too high to do anything. The air was alive with them. Another appeared and made a pass at me. I anticipated the attack, but he got on my tail and began to give me a burst that hit my wing. I threw the old Wildcat around, but I couldn’t shake that Frenchman off. He was much more maneuverable than I was and a swell flier. I got hot. Everything I did he did. I saw his wingman coming in to make a kill, so I stuck down my nose and pulled up sharply to the left and came round above and between them. Right underneath me was another P-36. My number was up now. These Vichyites were giving us everything they had. I got this P-36 in my sights and gave him a long burst. Then another got on my tail again and I knew I had gotten myself into a darned fool position. Bullets were clattering on my wings. I could see the holes. I gave the P-36 I had first attacked another burst. He wobbled, then fell down, and his companion turned away. He went so fast that pursuit seemed out of the question.
We were right over the airfield at that moment, and I saw a Douglas bomber on the ground hurrying to the runway. I decided to strafe him, but again I went in too fast. I overshot badly and that calmed me down a great deal, so I turned for another run. This time I got him with several bursts. He blew up just as my plane was overhead, and the explosion rocked me. I realized then that the incendiary bombs were still in my machine, which was probably why I hadn’t been able to shake off those P-36s.”
Lt. Shields attacked a Vichy airfield alone and was soon caught and brought down by a group of Hawk 75’s. It was a full day of aerial action, as VF-41 claimed 13 aerial victories with one probable, plus many more Vichy aircraft damaged on the ground. Meanwhile, Vichy pilots claimed seven Wildcats, with three more as probable kills. Operation Torch was not without its losses, and once again, the Curtiss Hawks proved surprisingly deadly despite their age.
East Indies Interlude
The Hawk 75 proved quite popular, and shortly after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Netherlands ordered 24 Hawk 75A-7s (with 1,200 hp Wright-Cyclone engines) for use in the Dutch East Indies. Shipped to the Pacific colonies in the spring of 1940, there were about 15 in service with the KNIL when Japan invaded in December 1941.
The KNIL Hawks carried four .303 Browning MGs — two in the cowl and two in the wings. The Dutch Hawks struggled against Japanese A6M Zero and Ki-43 Oscar fighters, but they proved useful as bomber interceptors and as fighter-bombers in the fighting over Sumatra and Java. By February 1942, there were only five Hawk 75s operational in the East Indies — their numbers were worn down in combat, and by a crippling lack of spare parts.
Flying for Finland
After the fall of Norway and France in the spring of 1940, the Germans found themselves in possession of more than 50 Hawk 75s. To quickly make up for the Bf 109 fighters lost in the Battle of France and the early missions over England, one staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 used a dozen Hawk fighters in the late summer of 1940. After that, the Luftwaffe used a few Hawk 75’s as advanced trainers.
The Germans found a motivated customer in Finland to take on their windfall Hawk fighters. Between June 1941 and January 1944, 44 of the captured Curtiss fighters were sent to Finland.
In Finland, the Hawk 75 was greatly appreciated, and FAF pilots were very successful with the maneuverable fighter, much as the French had been. Flying the Hawk 75 (nicknamed “Sussu”, or sweetheart), Finnish pilots shot down a total of 190 Soviet aircraft against a loss of 24 of their own. Lt. Kolevi Tervo led all 16 Finnish Hawk aces with 15 victories in the type.
Initially, the Finns armed their Hawk fighters with six 7.5mm machine guns. However, as the Soviets began adding armor to many of their later aircraft, the Hawk 75’s armament was upgraded to a pair of .50-caliber MGs in the nose, while maintaining the four 7.5mm guns in the wings. The Finns used a variety of .50 caliber weapons, from FN-made guns (in 12.7mm) to a small number of unlicensed Finnish copies (the LKk/42 in 12.7mm). The Finnish Hawks saw their final combat in late 1944, and the survivors stayed in service until 1948.
Conclusion
The Curtiss Hawks had fought a long war, engaging in aerial combat two full years before America entered the conflict. Built before the most famous U.S. fighters of WWII were even conceived, the Hawk had a solid record of achievement for those who care to look a little deeper.
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