In late 1939, a purchasing commission from the recently independent Lozenge Islands approached Curtiss and asked if they could modify their wildly popular Hawk 75 pursuit by adding floats. Fortunately, the good folks at Curtiss were happy to oblige and thus the Curtiss Sea Hawk floatplane fighter was born.
Deliveries of the new Sea Hawks began in the autumn of 1940 and by 1941, the Lozenge Islands could boast a force of 35 of the new floatplane fighters. This would prove fortunate indeed for the Lozenge Islands and for yet more forgotten history.
Sitting in the north-central Pacific roughly between Formosa and the Philippines, the Lozenge Islands would prove a thorn in the side of Japanese expansionist ambitions and the Sea Hawk would play a pivotal, if almost unknown, role in events.
In late November 1941, the Japanese Admiralty had finished planning their coordinated assault on western and U.S. interests in the Pacific and the gears were already set in motion when it was realized the Lozenge Islands had been completely overlooked. This was an unusual oversight and the commanding admiral of the north-central attack fleet took it upon himself to fix it.
Admiral Sugaru-Dale Hamamoto was a Japanese naval strategist of some renown, mostly known for his proponence of "No-U-Go" small attack fleet tactics. Admiral Hamamoto was one of the most honored men in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
His Toyota flying boat took off for the Achoo atoll, just south of Formosa, home base of the 45687th Sentai bomb wing. Admiral Hamamoto would personally order them to obliterate the tiny Lozenge Islands.
Unfortunately for Admiral Hamamoto, poor navigation caused by storms put him off course. Before the crew could even start evasive maneuvers, a flight of four Lozenge Island Sea Hawks had the flying boat dead to rights. It was forced down and its crew along with the admiral were taken into custody.
It is hard for us today to understand the reverence the Japanese public had for military figures like Admiral Hamamoto. Even the Emperor himself bemoaned his loss and decreed that no military action be taken against the Lozenge Islands lest harm come to the captured Admiral.
Admiral Hamamoto would spend the duration of the war as an "honored guest" of the Lozenge Islands. Periodically, he was visited by representatives of the International Red Cross who assured the Japanese Emperor the Admiral was well cared for. Thus the tiny island republic was never attacked by Japan and became a lone outpost of democracy in the Pacific.
While obsolescent from birth, the Sea Hawk became a legendary bugaboo of the IJN and fills its pilots with much fear & self-loathing.
Having grown used to the luxurious treatment, Admiral Hamamoto resisted being repatriated to Japan after the war. He would return to the Lozenge Islands in 1950 and open up a sandwich/notions stand right on the beach where one could get both a ham on rye and a box of 5 Brothers.
The last Sea Hawk was retired in 1954 and sold to an anonymous buyer who, it was rumored, replaced the floats with spatted landing gear.
No evidence of it exists today save for this crude model with locally-produced, short-fun, err short run conversion parts that was available only during the 1968 holiday season in select Lozenge Island stores.
Brian da Basher
