Curtiss F6C Hawk

The Curtiss F6C Hawk was a single-seat naval biplane fighter introduced in the mid-1920s as the U.S. Navy's counterpart to the Army's Curtiss P-1 Hawk. A standard fighter layout with staggered, tapered single-bay wings, it had a welded steel-tube fuselage, wooden wings, and fabric covering. Early versions used the inline Curtiss D-12 (V-1150) engine, while the later F6C-4 adopted the air-cooled Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial, which suited it better for carrier and shipboard service.

Armed with two .30-caliber machine guns and able to carry a light bomb load, the rugged F6C became one of the Navy's first aircraft capable of steep-angle dive bombing. About 75 were built, and from 1927 to 1930 they flew from the carriers USS Langley and USS Lexington as well as with Marine Corps units, marking an important step in the development of American carrier aviation.