Curtiss F11C Goshawk


The Curtiss F11C Goshawk is a 1930s American biplane fighter aircraft. It was part of a long line of Curtiss Hawk airplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the American military and for export.

Design and development

In April 1932, when Curtiss was planning the Model 35B, the United States Navy contracted with the manufacturer for an improved derivative of the Model 34C, F6C as the F11C. It contained major changes that included the Wright R-1510-98 radial engine, single-leg cantilever main landing-gear units, a slight increase in the interplane gap, metal- rather than fabric-covered control surfaces, and armament based on two fixed forward-firing machine guns supplemented by a hardpoint under the fuselage for the carriage of a bomb, or an auxiliary fuel tank. Curtiss designed the type as the Model 64 Goshawk, with the U.S. Navy designation XF11C-1. The aircraft was of fabric-covered metal construction, used the wing cell structure of the dismantled XP-23, and was delivered in September 1932.
Shortly before ordering the XF11C-1, the Navy had bought a company-owned Model 64A demonstrator. This had a Wright R-1820-78 Cyclone engine, slightly longer main landing-gear legs carrying wheels with low-pressure tires, a tailwheel in place of the tailskid, fabric-covered control surfaces on the tail, and external provision for underwing racks for light bombs as well as an under-fuselage hardpoint for either a fuel tank or the crutch that would swing a bomb clear of the propeller disc before release in a dive-bombing attack.
Flight trials of this XF11C-2 revealed the need for some minor changes. After these, the XF11C-2 became the prototype for the F11C-2, of which 28 were ordered as fighter-bombers in October 1932.
From March 1934, the aircraft were revised with a semi-enclosed cockpit and a number of other modifications before they received the revised designation BFC-2 in recognition of their fighter-bomber role The last aircraft in the XF11C-2 contract was converted to the prototype XF11C-3, incorporating a more powerful R-1820-80 engine and a hand-operated retractable landing gear.

Operational history

The only U.S. Navy units to operate the F11C-2 were the Navy's "High Hat Squadron", VF-1B, aboard the carrier, and VB-6 briefly assigned to. In March 1934, when the aircraft were redesignated BFC-2, the "High Hat Squadron" was renumbered VB-2B, and then VB-3B, and retained its BFC-2s until February 1938. VB-6 never embarked on Enterprise with its BFC-2 fighter-bombers.
The F11C-2 Goshawk was produced in an export version as the Hawk II fighters. A slightly modified XF11C-2, the Hawk II was fitted with a Wright R-1820F-3 Cyclone rated at at and of fuel while the Hawk I had of internal fuel. Both versions carried the same armament as the production F11C-2. The Hawk II was exported in quantity to Turkey, the first customer, who took delivery of 19 beginning in August 1932. Colombia ordered Hawk IIs at the end of October 1932 and receiving an initial batch of four twin float-equipped examples, the first of 26 floatplane fighters delivered by the end of July 1934. The Colombian Air Force used Hawk II on floats in the Colombia-Peru War in 1932-1933. Nine Hawk IIs were supplied to Bolivia, of which three had interchangeable wheel/float undercarriages, four were delivered to Chile, four to Cuba where they were used to create the Cuban 8 aerobatic manoeuvre, two went to Germany for experiments with dive bombing, one company demonstrator went to Norway while 12 Hawk IIs went to Siam.
The Chinese Nationalist Air Force received 50 Hawk IIs and fought against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. One pilot at the 28th Squadron, 5th Fighter Group from Chuyung Airbase for the defense of Nanking at the outbreak of the war against the Imperial Japanese invasion, made a partial claim in the shooting-down of a Mitsubishi G3M heavy bomber on 15 August, 1937. Half of the squadron were dispatched to Taiyuan in the northern front of the war in China, and took part in the Battle of Taiyuan It was the main battlefield of the Hawk IIs and IIIs in World War II.
Siamese Hawk IIIs saw action during World War II, including against the Royal Air Force. On 8 April 1944, a Siamese Hawk III was shot down by a No. 211 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufighter over Lamphun.

Variants

Navy designations

;XF11C-1
;XF11C-2
;F11C-2
;BFC-2 Hawk
;XF11C-3
;BF2C-1 Goshawk

Curtiss designations for export models

;Hawk II or Hawk model II
;Hawk III or Hawk model III
;Hawk IV or Hawk model IV

Curtiss model numbers

;Model 35
;Model 47
;Model 64
;Model 64A
;Model 67
;Model 67A
;Model 68
;Model 68A
;Model 68B
;Model 68C
;Model 79

Royal Siamese Air Force designations

;B.Kh.9
;B.Kh.10

Operators

; Siam
  • Royal Siamese Air Force operated 12 Hawk IIs and 24 Hawk IIIs.
  • Turkish Air Force operated 19 Hawk IIs and 1 company demonstrator Hawk III.
  • Peruvian Navy - Four Hawk IIs, three on floats, were purchased in March 1933, likely from Chile.
  • United States Navy operated 28 aircraft with VF-1B squadron, which operated for a period from the aircraft carrier.

    Surviving aircraft

During the spring of 1933, Göring authorized funds to purchase two Hawk IIs for dive bombing trials. In October 1933 the pair arrived in Bremerhaven aboard the liner SS Europa. Ernst Udet used one of these in aerobatic exhibitions held during the 1936 Summer Olympics. That aircraft survived the war, and was eventually found in a field outside Kraków, and is now on display in the Polish Aviation Museum.
A BFC-2 is in the National Naval Aviation Museum on NAS Pensacola, Florida.
The sole surviving Hawk III was restored by the Royal Thai Air Force Museum. The aircraft is displayed with insignia identifying it as belonging to Wing 4.

Specifications (F11C-2) & (BFC-2)