The P-36 a Zero Killer??? (P-36 Hawk/Hawk 75)

[nuuumannn]

During Guadalcanal, and other early Asian conflicts, the superior altitude performance of the F4F compared to the P-39, P-400 and P-40 often comes up.
The query was putting the F4F engine in the P-36 (both R-1830's, but one 1-stage the other 2-stage.)

Yep, gjs, I understand where you are coming from, but even with hindsight, aiming for the 1830 wasn't the most productive move Curtiss could have undertaken. I doubt the 1830 engined P-36 would have made any difference to its future/fate as a fighter and Curtiss would have still been throwing engines at it and coming up with an alternative. This is the point I'm trying to make. By the time the USA entered the war in 1941, the P-36 was something of an also ran and the F4F was barely holding its own. Grumman's solution was to redesign the airframe and put an even more powerful engine in the front.

 

[GrauGeist]

Yep, gjs, I understand where you are coming from, but even with hindsight, aiming for the 1830 wasn't the most productive move Curtiss could have undertaken. I doubt the 1830 engined P-36 would have made any difference to its future/fate as a fighter and Curtiss would have still been throwing engines at it and coming up with an alternative. This is the point I'm trying to make. By the time the USA entered the war in 1941, the P-36 was something of an also ran and the F4F was barely holding its own. Grumman's solution was to redesign the airframe and put an even more powerful engine in the front.

Agreed...

Once the P-40 was in full swing, the P-36 should have been shelved after the last ordered airframe rolled off the assembly line and then turn to developing new aircraft. Most new machines carry lessons learned from previous aircraft and Curtiss had even sent "observers" to Spain during the civil war to see the latest developments of combat aircraft in action.

The XP-46 was a result of that observation, it was relatively fast, was designed to have up to 8 .50 caliber MGs, redesigned main gear, leading edge slats and a stronger Allison V-1710-39. Size-wize, the XP-46 was smaller than the P-40.

As it turned out, the Army changed several requirements and then requested that Curtiss put the XP-46's engine into the P-40 as an upgrade. It held potential but the Army turned it's attention to other projects and then the U.S. got drawn into WWII and the rest was history.

 

[gjs238]

But then we would have a P-51 with build quality like the Curtiss-built P-47G....

Actually, joking aside, two points...
If CW built P-47's under license, who is to say they could not have been building (and transitioning over to) P-51's instead?
Also, perhaps the P-51, being more similar to the P-40, would have been a craft they would have been more comfortable building?
Then again, CW issues are a thread unto itself.