Curtiss F6C HAWK Naval Carrierborne Fighter Aircraft

Specifications

Year: 1924
Manufacturer(s): Curtiss - USA
Production: 75
Capabilities: Fighter; Navy/Maritime;

Crew: 1
Length: 22.83 ft (6.96 m)
Width: 31.59 ft (9.63 m)
Weight (Empty): 2,161 lb (980 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 3,349 lb (1,519 kg)

Power: 1 x Curtiss D.12 "Conquerer" water-cooled inline engine developing 400 horsepower.

Speed: 154 mph (248 kph; 134 kts)
Ceiling: 20,299 feet (6,187 m; 3.84 miles)
Range: 351 miles (565 km; 305 nm)

Operators: United States

The Curtiss F6C Hawk series of aircraft was in fact the US Navy/Marine model of the US Army's P-1 Hawk series. The US Navy found the P-1 attractive enough to begin fielding it as a carrier-based aircraft whilst the US Marines operated it as a land-based fighter.

With its origins in the Model L-18-1 (which stemmed the PW-8 US Army production fighters), the P-1 was a biplane single-engine, single-seat fighter with fixed landing gears. In the interwar years, the system would become one of the many symbols in the evolution of the aircraft during this time. Tapered-wings, wheel brakes and evermore powerful engines produced a wild amount of variants for the Curtiss company that would see the Hawk series as a frontline fighter in all the major armed services of the time.

Armed modestly with a World War One-style array of .303 caliber machine guns, the aircraft was indeed a throwback to earlier days of aerial combat. The metal body-covering was, however, a taste of things to come throughout the 1930's. With a flight ceiling of over 20,000 feet and speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour, the P-1 and F6C Hawk series was a step in the right direction for American military aviation design.

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Armament

STANDARD:
2 x .30 caliber machine guns

Variants / Models

• Model L-18-1
• PW-8 - Production models of the Model L-18-1 of which 25 were produced for the US Army.
• XPW-8B - Experimental variant fitted with Curtiss D-12 440hp engine.
• P-1 - Production Variant of the XPW-8B
• P-1A - 25 produced
• P-1B - 25 produced; fitted with Curtiss V-1150-3 435hp engine.
• P-1C - 33 produced; fitted with Curtiss V-1150-5 engine; wheel brakes implemented; ski landing gear.
• AT-4 - Advanced Trainer Variant based on the P-1A; fitted with Wright-Hispano E 180hp engine.
• P-1D - Fitted with V-1150 engine based on the AT-4 trainer model.
• AT-5 - Improved trainer variant based on the P-1D model fitted with 220hp Wright Whirlwind J-5 radial engine.
• P-1E - Converted AT-5 models with V-1150 engine.
• AT-5A - Longer fuselage trainers; would later become P-1F.
• P-1F - Converted AT-5A trainer models fitted with V-1150 engine.
• F6C - United States Navy carrier-based fighter model.
• F6C-1 - United States Marine Corps land-based F6C model based on the US Army P-1 fighter.
• F6C-2 - Carrier-based model fitted with arrestor hook and other specialized landing equipment.
• F6C-3 - Modified F6C-2 fighters
• F6C-4 - Fitted with Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial generating 420hp.