Curtiss P-36A Hawk
....This is a characterization of the Curtiss P-36A Hawk as it served with the USAAC. This aircraft displays excellent manouverability, particularly at high speeds, but was entering obsolesence by the beginning of the second world war.
Underpowered and undergunned compared to it's peers and competition, the Hawk could dive like a brick, all the while maintaining excellent control integrity with relatively light control inputs. You'll encouter this talent in extreme vertical dives up to 450 MPH...enabling the pilot to execute fast evasive rolls and turns, pulling away from other combatants who's controls are stiffening or completely freezing up at those speeds. All this from a bird who's max level speed is 300 MPH at 10,000 feet.
With relatively low power to weight, make sure that the energy gained in rapid descent is used to regain altitude before your enemy catches up again.
Another word of warning...the Hawk is not immune to control freeze up...manouverability will begin to diminish above 450 MPH...to the point of passing into a stage of extreme compressability at 540-550 MPH. You'd have to drop with full power from an extreme altitude to encounter this effect.
Pilots new to the P-36A will at first find it an enjoyably nimble aircraft. Don't be fooled. It's all relative to perspective.
You'll find yourself on the tail of a A6M2 (type 21) Zero...and will be amazed to watch him simply out-turn you without effort until he's on your tail.
You can roll hard...you can dive hard...but you can't turn with the contemporary Japanese fighters, A6M2 Zero, Ki-43II Oscar. Remember to take to heart, the theories of "boom and zoom" with this aircraft.
Good news...if a Zero or an Oscar gets on your tail...the Hawk is tough and can take a beating. With a little altitude...you'll probably survive to fight another day.
The Zero will excel in acrobatics below 200-250 MPH...the Hawk wallows like a pig at those speeds.
The Hawk excels above 200-250 Mph...the Zero begins to suffer from stiffening control surfaces.
The pilot needs to pay careful attention during take off and landing.
During final approach, keep the speed above 100 mph until just before flair out. Grease her smoothly and carefully. You must not let this plane even think about stalling.
The Hawk will stall with almost no warning, dropping it's right wing in dramatic fashion. Recovery at low altitude is virtually impossible.
Here's some numbers to consider:
With full fuel load and gun ammo:
Take off: 100 MPH/88 Kts (no flaps)
Landing:(full flaps and gear extended)Final approach not below 100 MPH/88 Kts, flair out speed depending on pilot ability and style.
Stall, clean: 76MPH/66 Kts, drops right wing hard.
Stall, full flaps and gear extended: 70MPH/61Kts, right wing down.
With 50% fuel and no gun ammo:
Take off:100 MPH/88 Kts (no flaps)
Landing:(full flaps and gear extended)Final approach not below 100 MPH/88 Kts, flair out speed depending on pilot ability and style.
Stall, clean: 71MPH/62 Kts, drops right wing.
Stall, full flaps and gear extended: 66MPH/58 Kts, drops nose, and then falls left or right, depending on control input and wind.
Landing and take off speeds are quoted to provide a degree of performance safety.
More advice; when recovering from a stall,add power gradually and smoothy. Too much juice too soon will create a violent torque effect and flip you into a spin that is recoverable only with significant altitude.
The real world P-36 and Hawk 75 series could be easily induced into a fatal flat spin when acrobating with the fuel tanks full. An early version of this flight model performed this trait, but the beta testors protested hard. For the sake of game play...the balance has been worked out a bit more evenly to reduce the effect. However...with tanks full...the pilot can still induce a tumble or spin. Just push it hard enough.
As well, we had great discussion about this plane's ability to roll, and it's turning radius at various speeds, altitudes, and loadings. Hopefully this flight model represents a reasonable characterization of the real McCoy...with a few minor concessions for gameplay.
Synopsis: Pilots loved the Hawk for it's sweet manouverability and tough construction, hated it for it's lack of power and poor armament. I hope we've capture that flavour here. Please...enjoy.
James Banks
Controls in CFS2:
Cowling Flaps open: Shift+E
Cowling Flaps closed: Ctrl+E
Canopy (toggle)open/closed: Ctrl+C
In CFS2...(using CFS1 or FS98 command settings)..Ctrl+C may be set as default to Checklist/Kneeboard. The user can set canopy operation to whatever command is desired. Go to "Settings/controller assignments...scroll down the Assignment List until you find and click on"Toggle Main Exit". Hit the "Change Assignment" button, and enter your new selection.