Curtiss F11C Goshawk
The Curtiss F11C Goshawk was a single-seat carrier fighter and dive bomber built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the U.S. Navy, and the last of the Curtiss Hawk biplanes produced for the American military. In spring 1932 the Navy bought two prototypes: the Cyclone-engined XF11C-2, developed from the company's export Hawk II, and the all-metal XF11C-1. It chose the XF11C-2 and ordered twenty-eight production aircraft, which entered service with VF-1B aboard Saratoga in February 1933 and were redesignated BFC-2 in March 1934. A retractable-gear development served separately as the BF2C, while the same basic design sold widely overseas as the Hawk II.
Why It Mattered
The F11C was the last version of the Curtiss Hawk biplane fighter produced for the U.S. military, and it arrived as the Navy was asking one carrier aircraft to do two jobs: fight, and dive-bomb. The Navy tested two prototypes in 1932 and chose the Cyclone-engined XF11C-2, a development of the company's export Hawk II with mixed construction, over the all-metal XF11C-1 ordered alongside it. Only twenty-eight production aircraft followed, all built around that dive-bombing role, with a centreline bomb rack that swung the 500 lb bomb away from the fuselage so it could not fall through the propeller arc. The same basic aircraft, sold abroad as the Hawk II, reached far more cockpits, and the pair Germany bought at Ernst Udet's bidding was used, History of War records, to test whether dive bombing could work as a method of attack — and helped show that it could.
Design Notes
Both prototypes kept the Hawk family's single-bay, staggered, tapered wings, but they differed in structure: the XF11C-2's wings were built around a wooden frame and its tail surfaces were fabric-covered, while the XF11C-1's wings used a metal frame. Their engines differed too: a 600 hp Wright Cyclone single-row radial in the XF11C-2, against a 600 hp Wright two-row radial in a NACA cowling in the XF11C-1. The metal prototype's engine tended to overheat, and after cooling experiments it became a NACA research aircraft in March 1934 under the designation XBFC-1. Production F11C-2s kept the XF11C-2's mixed construction and Cyclone engine — History of War's specification table lists the R-1820-78 at 700 hp — and carried two .30 in Browning machine guns and one 500 lb or four 112 lb bombs. Early in 1934 the service aircraft were given a higher rear turtleback deck and a partially sliding canopy covering the rear half of the open cockpit.
Operational History
The XF11C-2 flew first, in March 1932, before the XF11C-1 had even been ordered, but it was lost in a crash that August. After testing both prototypes, the Navy ordered twenty-eight F11C-2s in October 1932, and deliveries began in February–March 1933, continuing into 1934. The type entered service in February 1933 with VF-1B, the High Hat squadron, aboard the carrier Saratoga. In March 1934 the modified aircraft were redesignated BFC-2, for bomber-fighter, Curtiss, and remained with the same squadron as it was renumbered VB-2B and later VB-3B. Wikipedia adds a second, brief assignment: VB-6 was given BFC-2s for the carrier Enterprise but never embarked in her with them. The export Hawk II, meanwhile, went on sale in 1932 and sold in quantity: Turkey was the first customer with nineteen aircraft, China the biggest with fifty, and History of War records combat use by Bolivia, China and Thailand.
Afterlife
Wikipedia records that the High Hat squadron, by then VB-3B, kept its BFC-2s until February 1938, which closed the type's Navy career. The all-metal prototype outlasted the fleet aircraft in experimental work, serving NACA's engine-cooling research as the XBFC-1 from March 1934. The retractable-gear development of the design entered service separately as the BF2C, where the metal wing structure combined with its Cyclone engine caused great vibration problems and cut the type's career short. Wikipedia records that one BFC-2 is held today by the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida. From the export line, the Hawk II that Ernst Udet flew in aerobatic exhibitions at the 1936 Berlin Olympics survived the war in a field outside Kraków and is now displayed by the Polish Aviation Museum, as Wikipedia recounts.