Curtiss P-6 Hawk

The P-6 was the last biplane type to be accepted by the U.S. Army Air Corps. It was one of the most impressive of the Curtiss Hawk planes, and the Army received 46 fighters in the winter of 1931-2. The P-6 never saw combat.

The P-6E Hawk burns 22.4 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $50.

Curtiss P-6E Hawk

Subassemblies: Light Fighter chassis +3; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 448-kW HP turbocharged gasoline engine with 448-kW old prop and 50-gallon standard fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 8.5 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C

Wings: 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

2xAircraft LMG/7.62 mm Browning [Body:F] (2,000 rounds each).

Statistics:

Size: 23'x31'x9' Payload: 0.38 tons Lwt.: 1.71 tons

Volume: 144 Maint.: 77 hours Cost: $6,835

HT: 8. HPs: 50 Body, 100 each Wing, 8 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 204 aAccel: 7 aDecel: 21 aMR: 5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 50 mph. Take-Off Run: 192 yards. Landing Run: 250 yards.

gSpeed: 259 gAccel: 13 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: Very High. 1/8 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 252 sf. The weight, cost and HPs of the wings were doubled to increase design weight; Lwt was only increased 3% to the historical. The MG load outs are a guess. Design payload was 725 lbs; the historical value has been substituted. The design purchases a 60-gallon tank; the 50-gallon value comes from a modern flying replica, but is used as shown. Design aSpeed was 200 mph. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight. The Body MGs are synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8). The historical purchase price for a P-6E in 1931 was $12,211.

Variants:

Technically, the P-6 was yet another variant of the Curtiss P-1 Hawk. A variety of XP-6 variants possessed alternate engines. Eight other P-6 models were produced, again, only differing in the engine mounted in the airframe.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS