Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon

Brief History:
One of the few types of modern aircraft that could withstand the Netherlands against the Japanese attack on their colonies in Southeast Asia (February 3, 1942) was 17 CW-21B Demon aircraft from the base in Perak. The Japanese pilots quickly and severely devastated these aircraft, it must be said that it was mainly due to the large number of numbers, as early as February 10, 1942, the Dutch had only six slightly damaged aircraft, which they withdrew to supplement the just delivered Hurricany Mk.II. March 8, 1942 The Dutch East Indies capitulated and the Japanese acquired the only aircraft that remained in airworthy condition.

One of the causes of this catastrophe was the failure to equip the aircraft with any passive defense. However, armored protection of the cockpit or engine was not considered at all, nor was self-locking fuel tanks, because this light fighter was planned exclusively for export to countries that needed to modernize their air force and had a limited budget for this modernization. Light fighters were created in the 1930s, mainly in France.

Curtiss-Wright Factory in St. Louis designed and built the aircraft, which had its foundations in a light attack aircraft CW-19R, the modification concerned the cabin, which was a single-seat for fighter purposes, was installed more powerful engine Wright R-1820-G5 Cyclone with an output of 1,000 horsepower. This engine was supercharged by a mechanical two-speed compressor, the engine power was transmitted using a three-bladed adjustable propeller Hamilton-Standard. The armament was relatively good for its time - two synchronized machine guns under the hood, one had a caliber of 7.62 mm and the other 12.7 mm. Increased performance was also achieved thanks to the retractable chassis. The design of the landing gear for the CW-21 aircraft underwent its development, in the first versions, the landing gear was pulled backwards into large protrusions at the bottom of the wings. In the later version of the CW-21B, the retraction system was improved and the removal of large bumps in the chassis brought an increase in speed from 488 km/h to 505 km/h.


The first prototype took off on September 22, 1938, the new aircraft from the very beginning of the tests climbed perfectly, this was achieved by the light weight of the aircraft and the engine, which thanks to a two-speed compressor delivered sufficient power in a decent altitude range.


Apart from the Netherlands, China took several machines earlier, originally it was supposed to be a fairly large order for thirty CW-21s, most of these aircraft were to be assembled at the CAMCO factory, the factory was damaged by a Japanese air raid. Several aircraft were sent to China in the already assembled form, three of these aircraft briefly operated in the unit A.V.G. The commander of the "flying tigers", Colonel Claire Chennault, counted on these aircraft to fight with high-flying Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. The great climb of "Interceptors" (this was the official name CW-21) was to be applied here. In the absence of any passive defense, these machines were not to operate against fighters or bombers. However, the aircraft were destroyed before they moved to the battlefield.


Now, we come to the part where we talk about the middle ground. The Curtiss-Wright factory demonstrated the CW-21 in Java in mid-1939, and finally American sales representatives managed to place an order for a total of 116 fighters, of which 24 were CW-21B.
The CW-21B version brought several major changes, it was the aforementioned chassis, which was newly retracted towards the fuselage, another change was double the armament and improved aerodynamics (retractable spur wheel and propeller cone). The Dutch version weighed 113 kg more, but mainly thanks to the new chassis, the maximum speed rose to 502 km/h. The Dutch allegedly valued their "Interceptors" more than Curtiss H-75A-7 or Brewster B-339 Buffalo.


Sources used:
William Green, War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Four: Fighters, London, MacDonald 7 Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1969, ISBN 0-356-01448-7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_CW-21
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/cw21.html
http://www.warbirdforum.com/cw21.htm
www.greendyk.nl
author's archive

Trojpohledový náčrt CW-21

Fotografie Demonů, dole jsou s původním podvozkem a pro Holandsko s vylepšeným systémem zatahování jsou dvě horní.

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