This began with a notion of updating Heinkel He-51 based Curtiss monoplane fighter from Brian's Pastafarian story. Thing is, Brian's builds are hard to trump (and his backstories impossible to match).
So, instead, I decided to just do something that I thought Brian would have enjoyed. So, here is the story of the Curtiss 75C
Super Hawk - complete with weird engine type and, of course, spats
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The Curtiss Model 75C Super HawkWith its underdeveloped Wright XR-1670-5 engine, the Curtiss Model 75
Hawk performed poorly in the May 1935 USAAC pursuit competition. By contrast, the rival Seversky SEV-2XP was powered by a reliable Wright R-1820 radial. And, perhaps more importantly, the Seversky submission had a practical set of fixed main undercarriage legs clad in finely-streamlined (and rather intimidating) spats. To no-one's surprise, the Seversky pursuit won the Army Air Corps' competition. [1]
The pursuit contract loss was the final straw for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. After a less-than-amicable breakup, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was re-established at Buffalo, NY. As chief designer, Don Berlin surveyed the wreckage. The reborn firm's key asset was a now-engineless Model 75 airframe. In the absence of Army Air Corps pursuit contracts, job one was to get Curtiss back into the export fighter game. For that, a major re-design would be needed. The first step was finding a new powerplant. The second was eliminating that fancy retractable undercarriage set-up that Curtiss-Wright management had insisted upon. Too complex, too heavy, and a Boeing patent to boot!
The powerplant issue was quickly resolved. The export Model 75 would receive a modernized version of the Curtiss V-1570
Conqueror - a slim, liquid-cooled V-12 engine. The aircraft would also be fitted with a spatted undercarriage - as it always should have been (and no royalties paid to Boeing!). With these changes, the design became the Model 75C
Super Hawk. Since the Model 75 had been rejected by officialdom and the V-1570 was of no further interest to the USAAC, Curtiss would have a free rein in marketing its new fighter abroad.
Top The original Model 75C concept with its turbosupercharged V-1570
Conqueror engine. (Notice the fully-retractable main spats and partially-retractable tail spat.)
It soon became apparent that developing an inhouse 'blower' for the V-1570
Conqueror would be a time-consuming project. Instead, it was decided to follow a tried and true American performance approach - add more cubic inches. The updated engine would have its cylinders bored out to give a greater displacement. The result was the V-1621
Super Conqueror. [2]
Bottom As built, the Curtiss Model 75C
Super Hawk V-1621
Super Conqueror engine exposed.
The first production-model
Super Hawk was the four-gunned Model 75E but that, as they say, is another story ...
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[1] The SEV-2XP would enter USAAC service as the P-35, the first in that series of famous Seversky fighter aircraft which would dominate the skies throughout World War Two. For Curtiss-Wright there was only ignominy.
[2] The original V-1570
Conqueror had a 6.125 inch stroke and a 5.125 inch bore. The
Super Conqueror each cylinder was bored out to 5.30 inches for a total displacement of 1,621 cubic inches.
