It was a great fighter. On Dec. 7 1941 a pilot woke up to the bombs. He put on his .45 and his head set. He took off and managed to shoot down two Zeros!
Polish fighter pilots shot down a few Bf109s during the September Campaign in 1939 flying P-11C. But it doesn't mean the fighter plane was great though . It means that pilots were great I think . Anyway the Curtiss Hawk 75 looks really very nice.