Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
Designer Donovan Berlin's fame was based nearly 100 per cent on the single, basic fighter design - the Hawk 75 - that he managed as Project Engineer for the Curtiss Aeroplane Div, Curtiss-Wright Corp from 1934 until he left its employ in December 1941. It isn't entirely clear why he terminated his service there, but it most likely concurred with his employment by General Motors (Fisher) at Cleveland, Ohio, a mere 190 road miles from Buffalo, NY.
Guy Vaughn was the wartime president of Curtiss Aeroplane, his VP was Burdette S Wright. Walter Tydon moved into the project engineer's position vacated by Berlin and was responsible for the best-looking, best-performing P-40 aeroplane in the entire series: the XP-40Q. According to Mr Tydon, it did not go into production because of the combination of vacillation and reticence in top management, plus a powerful financial control over C-W's fate that was vested in Wall Street. The operation was a 'cash cow'.
Burdette Wright held top-level management positions at both Curtiss Aeroplane Engine Co and Curtiss-Wright Corp after an 11-year career in the US Army Air Service/Air Corps (1917 - 28 ).
C-W was less than successful in designing technological leaders during Wright's watch, right through to the king-sze XP-87 night fighter in the late 1940s.
Winning outsize contracts for the Curtiss P-36, P-40, SB2C and SO3C airplanes was tied to 'favoured' status with the War Department for years and many failed airplanes salted the tail of the corporation for almost two decades.
While the XP-40Q was the fastest and best-performing of all P-40s, it still trailed North American Aviation's fighter designs as well as those from Germany, Britain, Japan and probably Russia. C-W's top management didn't want to contend with the XP-40Q major redesign and tooling changes, not to mention lost production time, that were required for production contracts of that type.
By the middle of the last century, the American aircraft industry giant that had been created from the two greatest pioneers in aircraft manufacturing in the USA , and perhaps the world, was a fading shadow.
This pictorial history chronicles the fighter aircraft that directly evolved from the Model 75 pursuit design created by Berlin and his staff for the 1935 Army Air Corps Pursuit Plane competition.
This is not intended to be a pretty story, nor is it an indictment of the airplane. The P-40 gave yeoman service in many venues, but it wasn't the type of weapon that could ever be dominant in any war against a determined, tough and technically brilliant enemy. At best, it was a spear-thrower in a war dominated by archers and swordsmen.
Guy Vaughn was the wartime president of Curtiss Aeroplane, his VP was Burdette S Wright. Walter Tydon moved into the project engineer's position vacated by Berlin and was responsible for the best-looking, best-performing P-40 aeroplane in the entire series: the XP-40Q. According to Mr Tydon, it did not go into production because of the combination of vacillation and reticence in top management, plus a powerful financial control over C-W's fate that was vested in Wall Street. The operation was a 'cash cow'.
Burdette Wright held top-level management positions at both Curtiss Aeroplane Engine Co and Curtiss-Wright Corp after an 11-year career in the US Army Air Service/Air Corps (1917 - 28 ).
C-W was less than successful in designing technological leaders during Wright's watch, right through to the king-sze XP-87 night fighter in the late 1940s.
Winning outsize contracts for the Curtiss P-36, P-40, SB2C and SO3C airplanes was tied to 'favoured' status with the War Department for years and many failed airplanes salted the tail of the corporation for almost two decades.
While the XP-40Q was the fastest and best-performing of all P-40s, it still trailed North American Aviation's fighter designs as well as those from Germany, Britain, Japan and probably Russia. C-W's top management didn't want to contend with the XP-40Q major redesign and tooling changes, not to mention lost production time, that were required for production contracts of that type.
By the middle of the last century, the American aircraft industry giant that had been created from the two greatest pioneers in aircraft manufacturing in the USA , and perhaps the world, was a fading shadow.
This pictorial history chronicles the fighter aircraft that directly evolved from the Model 75 pursuit design created by Berlin and his staff for the 1935 Army Air Corps Pursuit Plane competition.
This is not intended to be a pretty story, nor is it an indictment of the airplane. The P-40 gave yeoman service in many venues, but it wasn't the type of weapon that could ever be dominant in any war against a determined, tough and technically brilliant enemy. At best, it was a spear-thrower in a war dominated by archers and swordsmen.
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