Curtiss AT-5

The Curtiss AT-5 was an advanced trainer of the late 1920s created by fitting a lower-powered engine to the airframe of the Curtiss P-1 Hawk pursuit. The idea was to give student pilots an aircraft that handled like a front-line fighter while costing less to operate; the AT-5 used a 220 hp Wright R-790 (J-5) Whirlwind radial in place of the Hawk's water-cooled D-12. Thirty-one AT-5As were built new on the P-1B airframe, and the type served with the pursuit training school at Kelly Field, Texas.

In practice the concept proved flawed: with the reduced power the aircraft were noticeably underpowered and handled poorly, making them hazardous for inexperienced pilots. As a result most were re-engined with Curtiss D-12 engines and returned to fighter service as P-1D and P-1F variants. The AT-5 is thus an interesting footnote in the Curtiss Hawk lineage.