Curtiss P-6E Hawk

Starting in 1925 Curtiss Aviation built several variations of pursuit planes for the US Army Air Corps using the name Hawk. These planes were typical war planes improving upon the bi planes of the First World War, but otherwise in a transitional period of development leading up the the Second World War. The challenge of a single wing plane that could have enough power to achieve lift for a short take off was not met until later in the 1930’s.

Curtiss P-36 Hawk

In the 1930’s aircraft manufacturers were working to develop faster, more powerful single-wing war planes. Boeing introduced theP-26 “Peashooter” in 1932. With a large air cooled radial engine, it could reach a speed of 234 mph. The competition for Army Air Corps orders was on. After losing an Army competition to Seversky’s P-35. Curtiss ultimately came out ahead with a large order (210 planes) from the Air Corps for its P-36 Hawk with retractable landing gear and a top speed of 313 mph. By the time the U.S. was getting into the war, the Army was looking for a faster plane.

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

The P-40 would not be as fast or as advanced as planes introduced after we got into the War, but US Army, along with the RAF, needed a good fighter fast, and they needed a lot of them. The Army had ordered over 200 P-36's in 1937, but the P-36 was not competitive with planes already in use by the axis powers, The solution was to change the design of the PP-36 to accommodate an Allison V-12 liquid cooled engine. This resulted in a much more aerodynamic cowling. The air intake for the radiator was under the nose cone. Consequently, Curtiss Wright could ramp up production of the P-40 very quickly, using the production line already set up for the P-36. The engine was pretty much the only change.

Like most other war planes, the first ones produced were improved upon after production started. So later versions flew faster than the early production version. The P-40, armed with three .50-cal. machine guns in each wing proved its value early in the war against Germany and Italy. Without a supercharger, it was not designed for higher altitudes, but the Army was planning mostly for ground support missions, where the plane was very effective.

The Flying Tigers

In 1937, retired US Army Air Force officer Claire Lee Chennault went to China to be an aviation advisor to General Chiang Kai-shek. The Soviet Union had supplied planes to China, but withdrew them in 1940, and China had only a weak defense against devastating Japanese bombardments. So on behalf of the Chinese, Chennault went to Washington, where he convinced President Roosevelt to allow him to recruit 100 experienced pilots and 200 ground crew and to allow China to purchase 100 P-40 Warhawks.

The Tuskegee Airmen

Leading up to World War II, the U.S. was still a racially divided nation, with African Americans subject to "Jim Crow" laws in many states, especially in the South. The U.S. Army was segregated. Despite many ongoing challenges and difficulties caused by prejudice and discrimination, with the persistence of strong leaders, a flight and air field school was established in June, 1941 at Tuskegee, Alabama. The 99th Pursuit Squadron consisted of 47 officers and 429 enlisted men, training ground crew as well as pilots. In March, 1941 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt climbed into a Piper J-3 Cub with a black civilian flight instructor named Alfred Anderson and, to the horror of many bigoted white folk went for a half hour flight. She used her influence to help finance the construction of the air field.

WASP

Women didn't just build military aircraft during WW2, they also flew them. Over 25,000 women applied to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and just over a thousand were accepted and trained. They had prior flying experience but needed training in the military planes. During the war, these women flew a total of 60 million miles in every type of military plane, from the fast Mustang to the large bombers.