Hawk 75
From Battleground Europe Wiki
| |
| Curtiss H-75 | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Type | Fighter |
| Armament | 6 x 7.5 mm Machine Guns |
| Crew | 1 pilot |
| Weight | 2,789 kg |
| Top Speed | 510 km/h |
History
The forerunner to the famous P-40, the Curtiss Hawk 75 (known as H-75 in France and Mohawk in the RAF) was the export version of the USAAF P-36. It was considered to be one of the finest flying aircraft in the world in 1938 and had beautifully harmonized controls. The Hawk 75 was virtually unmatched in manoeuvrability against all low wing monoplane fighters of the day. While acrobatically wonderful, the Hawk was poorly armored and lightly armed. This combined with a relatively poor rate of climb and acceleration made the Hawk in some combat terms almost obsolete when it rolled of the production lines in 1938.
However many countries had no fighter designs nor the facility to produce such designs in the numbers needed to meet the demands of a world at war. The Hawk found its fame as a ubiquitous poor man's fighter. USA, Great Britain, France, China, Argentina, Portugal, Thailand, and Iran all ordered and deployed Hawk 75s in combat squadrons, often because they had little else available. French H-75s fared better in 1940 against the Luftwaffe than other types in service with the Armée de l'Air. A little known fact is a few USAAF P-36s (with the much more well known P-40 pair) lifted and scored a few precious air victories on Dec. 7th 1941 at Pearl Harbor.
The variant in game is the later H-75 A-2 or A-3, with six 7.5 mm machine guns and the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 SC3-G engine.
Game Play
The H-75's main virtue is its maneuverability: its rate of roll and rate of turn is second to none, and it also dives well unless you push it over the edge of compressibility at around 550 km/h. As noted above, its chief drawbacks are its comparably low speed, anemic acceleration and poor climb performance. Because of this, the astute H-75 pilot starts his sortie by climbing to at least 3-4 km and then some as the situation warrants, so as to secure an initial energy advantage for himself before combat is joined. To extend his visit in the battle zone, the H-75 pilot must dismantle his opponent in a single high-speed surprise attack and regain his position of advantage without major energy loss. Once engaged or otherwise facing an increasing energy disadvantage, the little H-75 must fight for freedom and defeat his opponent quickly, or suffer the handicap of inability to extricate himself – he does not have the option of running away.
Although the H-75 is by far one of the most nimble and responsive fighters in the sky, it is false to consider it a “dogfighting machine” pure and simple. The Hawk can do so much more, and the wise pilot should only resort to dogfighting when all other options have been expended. It is of course hard to not dogfight in a machine that practically invites it, but be aware that dogfighting is THE hardest thing to master and that you will have to sacrifice hundreds of frustrating deaths before the God of War before you can call yourself reasonably good at it. Again, because the H-75 is slow and slower still when engaged, you must turn and weave and roll throughout your sortie to keep your six clear, and never ever fly straight for more than three seconds in a free-for-all. To succeed in the Hawk you must possess (or quickly acquire) superior Situational Awareness; learn to find your exit window before you engage; and learn to disengage by fighting.
Your combat dues as a Hawk driver will be paid in white knuckle wrestling matches against superior aircraft in almost every fight you enter, and if you become good at controlling the combat in the little Hawk you will become a very deadly pilot in almost anything else. Those who master the H-75 in air combat can lay claim to being a cut above the norm in the Battleground Europe air war, and are fittingly deserving of the upgrade they get in the Allison V-12 powered Hawk 81 as the campaign continues to its climax. An ace in the H-75 will kill you in anything he will ever fly.
Because the H-75 carries relatively weak armament you are well served by setting your convergence to short range (i.e. 100-150 m): the six rifle-caliber machineguns lose most of its clout outside 200 meters and as a beginner you must anyway motor up close to the enemy in order to have a chance at hitting him.
As noted in the tips for the D.520, the best course of action for a pilot flying a fighter that is inferior in performance compared to the enemy machines, outside of taking the greatest care in maintaining superiority of energy and position, is to fight with a wingman or preferably in a flight of four friendly pilots with the added bonus of voice communications. By flying in line abreast (i.e. parallel to each other) you can watch each others tails to help defend against sudden attacks from above and behind by faster and better climbing enemy aircraft.
One of the tricks that Hawk pilots learn is to fight in circles and to use himself as bait to induce a faster opponent to turn and get within his reach. In a typical scenario where you are being chased down by a Bf-109E coming at you from astern, you know that there is no future in running but must fight instead. Lure the enemy into burning energy by making a gentle turn that you pull in tighter and higher into a steep spiral as the enemy closes to guns range. Once the enemy fighter is committed to trying to maintain his shot solution he will blow most of his energy in the belief that he can catch you, and finally overshoot behind you as you climb onto his back, just in range to lay into him with your six guns of destruction. Be quick about it and nail the bandit before he recovers his wits – and if you miss and the bandit runs away, do not try to chase him.
Beginner pilots in the H-75 frequently make the mistake of trying to follow much faster enemy aircraft around. This is a forlorn hope, and such pursuit is best abandoned by a swift turn away. In this instance the enemy pilot usually turns back for another go, which is precisely what the H-75 pilot wanted in the first place. Because the enemy aircraft are generally faster, the Hawk pilot must use cunning, teamwork and psychology to get to grips on his own terms.
