Curtiss F6C-1 Hawk

In March 1925, the US Navy ordered nine fighters, corresponding to P-1 Hawk built for the Air Force. Due to the similarity with the military machines, the Navy did not even order a prototype, and differed from the P-1 basically only in the arrangement of the cockpit and paint in silver, gray and yellow. The machines were assigned the designation F6C-1 - F5C-1 was deliberately launched because there was still a large number of flying boats in service F-5L. The company name was Model 34C (but it was assigned retrospectively, in 1934). The first five naval Hawks were completed between August and September 1925, and at the end of September, three of them were assigned to the VF-2 fighter squadron at NAS North Island in San Diego. During the comparison tests with FB-1, the usual differences showed and Boeing came out as slightly more agile and manoeuvrable, the F6C-1 also had a worse view from the cab forward and up. The remaining four machines from the order were completed as F6C-2, differing reworked landing gear and modifications for service on an aircraft carrier.


The fact that only five machines were built, the F-6C-1 had a pretty busy career. For VF-2, they used tactical designations 2-F-1 (A6969), 2-F-2 (?) And 2-F-3 (A6972). In 1926, VF-2 aircraft participated in naval bombing experiments, with great success. Another machine, the A6970, participated in the Curtiss Marine Trophy Race the same year and won at 210.7 km/h. This machine has also been tested with wooden floats. In this form, its take-off weight increased to 1477 and access fell to 5791 m. The first Hawk, A6968, was rebuilt the following year after the completion of tests to a prototype version F6C-4, and machines A6970 and A6972 were rebuilt to F6C-3. The remaining two aircraft, the A6969 and A6971, were then reassigned to the VF-10M Marine Fighter Squadron, also based in San Diego. A6969 was canceled after the accident on July 20, 1929, A6971 perhaps passed the VF-9M squadron in Quantico and was scrapped in February 1931.


The A6969 is on display today at the National Maritime Aviation Museum in Pensacola.