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The Curtiss Hawk II represented the end of a lengthy period of a Boeing
monopoly on single seat fighter sales to the US Navy. This is not to say that
Curtiss products or those of other manufacturers were unsatisfactory or that
Boeing had an unethical relationship with US Navy procurement officers since
Curtiss had sold a number of two-seaters to the Navy during this period.
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The first Hawk II variant who´s US Navy
designation was F11 C1 was an elegant radial
engined biplane with metal wings that were
fabric covered and tapered towards the wing tips
The tail surfaces and ailerons were also of
metal and were metal skinned.
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Originally it was equipped
with a 600 Hp Wright SR-1500 fourteen cylinder
two row radial engine. The fuselage was a
relatively conventional metal tube structure
that was metal skinned from the cockpit forward
while the rear fuselage was fabric covered.
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The landing gear consisted of spatted single leg
main units and a steerable tail wheel
The Hawk II was a quite successful design and
was exported to a fair number of customers both
in its standard land based version and a fair
number of Sea Hawk II
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Major operators included Bolivia(9), China (50),
Colombia (26), Siam (12) and Turkey (24). Except
for the Turkish machines all of these Hawks saw
intensive combat service. Additionally Hawk II
fighters were sold in ones, two's and threes to
various small scale operators including the
famous two Hawks that were sold to WW1 ace Ernst
Udet 3)
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Ernst Udet, Germany s highest-scoring surviving
First World War Ace, one of the world s leading
acrobatic pilots, and an aircraft designer, was
greatly impressed by Al Williams demonstrations
of precision dive-bombing in the Gulfhawk I at
the National Air Races.
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Udet then persuaded the Germany Air Ministry to
purchase two Hawk Us for the still-secret
Luftwaffe to be used in the study and evaluation
of vertical dive-bombing techniques.The first
German Hawk II was delivered early in 1934 with
German civil registration D-3165.
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This was changed to D-IRIS when the German
registration system was changed from numbers to
letters later that year. The second was
delivered as D-IRIK.The D-IRIS were destroyed,no
completed D-IRIK is today in Air-Museum Krakow.
Who used them to give breathtaking aerobatics
displays that contributed to convincing the
leadership of Third Reich of the viability of
dive-bombing which resulted in the introduction
into service of the Ju 87 dive bombers that
blasted Hitler's Panzers their path as they
overran Europe.
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It is true that the Bolivians considered
purchasing Hawk I's but abandoned the idea
preferring instead to purchase the Vickers Type
143 "Bolivian Scout". It was only as the Gran
Chaco war was already raging that the Bolivians
once again became interested in Curtiss
fighters. Initially they purchased four Hawk
II's which were delivered in early 1933 just in
time for the first of the freshly assembled
Hawks to be flung into the desperate fighting
during the battle of Nawana.
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Due to the arms embargo that began to gather
momentum in May of 1933 the delivery dates of
the Bolivian Hawk II's are somewhat confused.
The embargo also drove the unit price of the
Hawks to extortionate levels. A basic factory
fresh Hawk II cost $12.900 if bought directly
form Curtiss. This price had risen by nearly
100% by the time the aircraft were delivered
since not only did the Curtiss agents in
S-America take a juicy commission. They had to
bribe the Hawks a path the entire way from the
Curtiss Factory through whatever country
happened to be in the mood to allow the shipment
to pass at the moment and thence to the Bolivian
border
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Nevertheless despite these difficulties and the
resultant uncertainly about exact delivery
dates. It is known that six Hawk II fighters
were in service with the FAB by November 1933.
Another two Hawks and a Sea Hawk II 4)
amphibian, obtained through Chile, were
eventually added to this number before the end
of the war. This gives a total of eight Hawk
II's and one Sea Hawk II.
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