Curtiss P-36C Hawk - The Fighter Collection

Описание: This Curtiss P-36C Hawk was delivered to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) on 5 April 1939 at Selfridge Army Airfield (now Selfridge Air National Guard Base), Michigan, USA. It was given US Military serial 38-210 and was the last P-36C to have been produced, with manufacturers construction number 12624. It participated in the Cleveland Air Races in September 1939, wearing experimental camouflage and then was assigned to the 1st Pursuit Squadron at Maxwell Army Airfield (now Maxwell Air Force Base), Alabama, where it participated in War Games. On 19 June 1940 she was transferred to Wright Army Airfield (now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base), Ohio and then sent to Dayton, Ohio for testing, until August 1940.
She was damaged, due to overshooting the runway on landing, on 21 January 1942 at Bendix Field (now Teterboro Airport), New Jersey.
She was assigned to the 61st Pursuit Squadron at Bridgeport Army Airfield (now Bridgeport-Sikorsky Airport, Connecticut) on 20 March 1942. She sustained category 3 damage in a taxying accident at Maxwell Army Airfield (now Maxwell Air Force Base), Alabama on 12 April 1942 and again 4 June 1942 at Bridgeport, when she ground looped on take off.
During 1942 she was sent to Chanute Army Airfield, Illinois, Technical Training Command as a ground instructional aircraft, but was subsequently labelled obsolete and flown to Buckley Field in Colorado and struck off charge on 3 December 1942.
She was put into a Technical School following her decommissioning and was later acquired by a Pratt & Whitney Technical instructor in Canada, where she resided until a Florida collector acquired her, before passing her on to The Fighter Collection, based at The Imperial War Museum airfield at Duxford, England.
Her restoration commenced in 2011, under the leadership of Matt Nightingale at Chino, California, when sufficient original parts capable of overhaul were recovered to ensure that the aircraft could be completed to fly. Steve Hinton carried out the subsequent shakedown test flights and the United States Federal Aviation Administration certified the P-36C, on the US Civil register as N80FR. It made its first public appearances at the 2015 Planes of Fame Airshow, in unique flights with the Museum’s Sikorsky P-35 which has similar markings.
A few months later, on 10 February 2016, the Curtiss P-36 moved to England and joined the fleet of the The Fighter Collection, carrying the UK Civil registration G-CIXJ. The aircraft is powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 (/17) engine driving a Curtiss Electric C532D-F44/89301-15 Propeller.
It wears the colours of a P-36C from the 27th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, USAAC.

Video and Audio content is
Copyright © High Flight

This video and audio material may not be reproduced in any form (except as the videos Youtube embedded video option on any other website), without written permission.