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The added weight is IN FRONT OF THE COG. Removing weight from BEHIND OF THE COG does make things worser! You need to elongate the hull and install dead weights (armour?) as far aft as possible to counter this. Or You move the wing forward.
Remember also that it´s engine dry weight, not netto weight increases. The support frames needs to be enforced to cope with the heavier loads and torque effects produced by the larger engine, too.
Like the Me-109 and Spitfire, the P-36 was a light weight fighter. There are limits as to how much armor and firepower you can add, unless you want to drastically reduce performance.
I think that a 375 mph P-36 armed with 4 x .50cal MGs would be good for Pacific service. It compares well with most Japanese fighter aircraft (both army and navy) and has adequate firepower for the job. Certainly better then both the naval F4F and army P-40.
Thin armour plating, which is essentially very heavy, very dense steel.later in the development, like after they moved the machine guns from the cowling to the wings, i read they added almost 200 pounds of armour to the airplane, around the cockpit area. what would this have been? like heavy steel plating or something else bullet/shrapnel resistant?
They tried that with a bunch of different designs and they couldn't make it work.Was the PW radial suitable for a Fw190/Sea Fury style close cowl? That was found to be the most aerodynamic way to cowl a big radial, maybe a model project in there?
The cowling didn't significantly reduce drag and the engine had continuing cooling problems even though numerous cowlings were tested.
Thailand's Hawk 75N export versions had the 23mm cannon; also fixed undercarriage so somewhat slower. They saw air combat action against French Ms406's in the Thai-French war of 1940-41.FWIW, here's some basic data on the P-36...
I read that there was one or two test aircraft put together that was armed with one 23mm cannon on each wing (along with one .30 and one .50 MG mounted in the nose), so it may be that the military was considering a ground attack variation at one time.
Curtiss Hawk 75A-3 (P36G)
At $23,000 each the P-36 cost 38% the price of a P-40 and 17% the price of a P-38. With a production cost that low it could become the ultimate Lend-Lease fighter aircraft. Produce 1,000 per month and give them to everyone in the Pacific except Japan. It is one of the few aircraft that can dog fight with the Japanese A6M, Ki-27 and Ki-43.
...on top of that, the Brewster F2A-1 was a more maneuverable airplane, had a better climb rate and was better armed.....plus I think the U.S. government was more willing to "lease" those, than the P-36's, if for no other reason than Brewster was kind of a pain in the government's rear end.MikeGazdik said:But who will make them? Curtiss was maxxed out, which is why North American was approached to build them.
Warbirds Resource Group said:Finland
After the fall of France, Germany agreed to sell captured Curtiss Hawk fighters to Finland in October 1940. In total, 44 captured aircraft of five subtypes were sold to Finland with three deliveries from 23 June 1941 to 5 January 1944. Not all were from the French stocks, but some were initially sold to Norway and captured in their wooden crates when the Germans conquered the country. The aircraft were given serial codes CU-551 to CU-585.
In Finnish service, the Hawk was well-liked, affectionately called Sussu ("Sweetheart"). The Finnish Air Force enjoyed success with the type, credited with 190 1/3 kills by 58 pilots, between 16 July 1941 and 27 July 1944, for the loss of 15 of their own. Finnish ace Kyösti Karhila scored 13 1/4 of his 32 victories in the Hawk, while the top Hawk ace K. Tervo scored 15 3/4 victories. The Hawks were flown by Lentolaivue 32 throughout their wartime operational service.
The Finnish Hawks were initially armed with either four or six 7.5 mm machine guns. While sufficient during the early phase of Continuation War, the increasing speeds and armor of Soviet aircraft soon showed this armament was not powerful enough. From 1942 the State Aircraft Factory replaced the fuselage machine guns with either one or two 12.7 mm Colt machine guns and installed two or four 7.7 mm Browning machine guns to each wing. The 12.7 mm Berezin UB or LKk/42 heavy machine guns were also used. The installation of heavier armament did not cause changes to the very good flying characteristics of the fighter but the armament was much more powerful against Soviet planes. The Finnish Hawks were also equipped with Revi 3D or C/12D gunsight.
Surviving Finnish aircraft remained in service with the FAF aviation units HLeLv 13, HLeLv 11 and LeSK until 1948.
Hey, thanks Joe!Thailand's Hawk 75N export versions had the 23mm cannon; also fixed undercarriage so somewhat slower. They saw air combat action against French Ms406's in the Thai-French war of 1940-41.
Joe
Dave,Build a new state of the art factory. Just like we did for the production of so many other aircraft models.