The Curtiss Hawk 75 for Check Your 6!

One of my favorite aircraft from the Second World War (and I do have several) is the Curtiss Hawk 75 (also known as the P-36). When in flight the sleek lines of this maneuverable yet rugged aircraft are apparent. Some confusion arises when trying to differentiate between the various armaments carried on each model, as well as how each model is designated. 

The P-36 was nearly obsolete by the time the Second World War started, but it was used by several nations early in the war, and by the Finns with great success well into 1944. Developed in 1934 in response to the U. S. Army's request for a low wing all metal-fighter with retractable wheels, the Hawk's main competitor was the Seversky P-35. The Seversky was eventually selected, even though it was slower and more costly to manufacture. However, Curtiss did receive a contract to build three prototypes. An improved Curtiss, using a Pratt & Whitney 900hp Twin Wasp engine, won the 1937 competition, resulting in an order for 210 P-36A models. While the P-35 was also put into production, only 196 models of the Seversky were built. By comparison, over one thousand Hawks were produced. Eventual users were Argentina, Britain, Brazil, China, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Thailand, South Africa, and the United States.

The French received 316 Curtiss fighters where they were designated the Curtiss H75-C1. While the Curtiss made up 12.6% of the French single-seat fighter component, the H75 accounted nearly a third of the French kills during the 1940 campaign. The Vichy government would use the Curtiss in North Africa, where the H75 faced off against American Wildcats during Operation Torch.

The Finns, who nicknamed the Hawk "Sussu," received a wide variety of Hawk 75A models from captured French and Norwegian stocks. In 1942 they upgraded the armament to include one or two heavy machineguns, retaining the light machineguns in combination to provide a total of six weapons per plane. The Finns repeated mentioned the ruggedness of the Hawk, so a robustness rating of R1, while aligned with contemporary airframes, might be on the low side. 

What follows is a chart listing the various models of the Hawk. I am thinking that the increased horsepower should result in better performance, so perhaps one might drop the (-) for agility on the models with the 1200 hp engine.

Commission Work in Hand!

Kevin at Miscellaneous Miniatures reached out to me recently let me know that he was once again doing commission work, and of course I just happened to have planes sitting about waiting to be painted! I sent him two small Check Your 6! projects, those being Pearl Harbor and Burma. The Pearl Harbor scenario you can download at the right, and the Burma planes will allow me to do a few scenarios from the Battles Above Pacific scenario book. Here are some pictures of Kevin's work (and these pictures do not do justice...the planes are so much cleaner looking in person).

Flying Tiger Project:

Pearl Harbor Project (my buddy Matt has the Japanese covered):

And the details on the undersides of two of the planes:

These two projects are now complete, short of adding magnets.

Kevin offers high quality paintjobs at affordable prices. The planes for these two projects were $5.00 each. I will be sending to him some additional small Check Your 6! projects in the near future, including the Slovak-Hungarian War planes I am slowly collecting.

Salvaging SPADs

Paul Baer and his SPAD VII

Two of the more prominent Allied fighters during The Great War were the SPAD VII and SPAD XIII, yet they are not valued by Wings of Glory players as their maneuver decks, to put it bluntly, are shite. While both fast for their time, they suffer from a lack of maneuverability, having no broad sideslips or sharp left or right turns, making them less than desirable when facing Central Power planes that are more nimble, such as the Fokker Dr.I and D.VII. SPADs are thought of as being boom and zoom aircraft, or are they? According to the book WW1 Aircraft Performance. written by Anders F. Jonsson (published by the author in 2023), the SPAD XIII had a sustained turn rate comparable to the S.E.5a at 1,000 meters and slightly better than the Fokker D.VIII at the same height. At 5,000 meters the XIII can turn as well as the Sopwith Camel and Nieuport 28, and better than than Fokker Dr.I. 

What does this mean for the SPAD VII? Certainly with its smaller engine and only one gun, it must have been discarded as soon as the SPAD XIII was available. However, that would not be a correct assumption. As late as April 1918 there were more SPAD VII models in service than XIIIs, and some pilots preferred the VII, including men of the United States 103rd Aero Squadron. They chose to keep using the VII model as long as possible due to the engine issues found with the XIII. As well, found on page 23 of Jon Guttman's SPAD VII Aces of World War 1, French ace Andre Henri Martenot mentions that although he had a SPAD XIII available that he would use on group flights, for solo sorties he preferred the slower SPAD VII because it was more maneuverable than the SPAD XIII. 

How do we enhance the SPADs in Wings of Glory? Should the SPAD XIII use the sharp right and left turns found in the N Deck? So does that mean the SPAD VII goes to the F Deck or at least uses the sharp left and right turns found in the F Deck? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. The SPAD XIII did suffer from an slower instantaneous turn rate when compared to most contemporary aircraft - even the Pfalz D.IIIa and Albatros D.Va would jump into a turn faster than the SPAD. But over a full turn the SPAD would show its speed and complete turns faster than most other aircraft of the time. How do we reflect this within the construct of the game? 

Additionally, the data in the book bears out the perception that the SPAD XIII was a great diving and climbing aircraft, climbing faster than most of its contemporaries, due to its inherent strength and stability. The SPAD VII would also have similar properties. One might consider treating both the VII and the XIII in the same manner as the Pfalz D.III and D.IIIa by giving them the High Speed Dive card found in the Werner Voss Pfalz D.III, which states the following:

High Speed Dives: (2019)

• If this optional rule is in use a Pfalz D.III/D.IIIa can plan an extra stall directly after another stall or a dive, even if they are two steep maneuvers in a row.
• If the pilot has no ace skills he must draw an A damage card. If there is any special damage symbol the airplane spins out of control and is eliminated.
• If there is no special damage symbol ignore the card and shuffle back into its deck.
• If the pilot is an ace, no A card is drawn and the maneuver is safe.
• In any case if altitude rules are in use when the second stall is executed the airplane loses an altitude level.