Fairchild Aviation Crimea Curtiss Hawk 75A-11

[comrade harps]

Fairchild Aviation Crimea Curtiss Hawk 75A-11
a/c White 29, personal mount of Lt. Asher Bakshi, Bull Squadron, Crimean Defence Force Air Force
Khersones (Sevastopol South airfield), Crimea, July 1941



Closely aligned with the Socialist Union, the Jewish nation of Crimea declared its independence from Soviet Russia on 23 November, 1927, during the Second Russian Civil War/The War Against Stalinism. In return for support against Stalin, Trotsky made deals with numerous ethnic minorities enabling them to establish varying levels of autonomy from Moscow, including national sovereignty, but with strings attached such as military and economic alliances. Successful in reducing Stalin's area of control to the TransCaucases, Crimea and the Socialist Union enjoyed mutually beneficial relations in the post-civil war era. When the European Axis countries declared war on the Socialist Union and many of its aligned its neighbouring states on 22 June, 1941, Crimea was among those targeted; and Nazi Germany had a special place in Hell for the majority Jewish nation, which fought to defend itself against overwhelming odds with rarely seen, but ultimately failed, vigour.





Although Socialist and part of the Moscow Pact, Crimea had a mixed economy and had strong links with many Western nations and its defence forces operated a mix of indigenous, Red and Western equipment. US sanctions prevented the sale of American combat aircraft to Crimea until late 1939. Crimea ordered 175 Curtiss Hawk 75A-11s as soon as the sanctions were lifted, with 30 to be built by Curtiss in late 1940 and the remainder licence-built by Fairchild Aviation Crimea (FAC) at Sevastopol. As the situation in Europe worsened, additional Hawks were ordered from FAC. The A-11 version was armed with two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns and four 12.7 mm BS machine guns and powered by the licence built R-1830-S3C4-GC Twin Wasp.




Plans to switch production in August 1941 to the A-12 model which replaced the four BS guns with two 20mm ShVAK cannon were thwarted by the Axis invasion of the Socialist Union, this model finally entering production from December at FAC's relocated production facilities at Nizhny Novgorod in the Socialist Union. After 473 A-11s, 3,344 A-12s were built, the later being supplied to exiled Crimean and Ukrainian units, to the Socialist Union and Kazakhstan. Of interest to note is that Crimea's licensing agreements with Curtiss extended to only 600 airframes, the remainder being built without reference with the original designer. Similarly, Twin Wasp production went way beyond the terms of any licensing agreement.




The Hawk 75B was built as a replacement for the Hawk 75A-11 and -12. The Hawk 75B was powered by Klimov M-105P V-12 engine, the first prototype being armed with a single ShVAK cannon firing through the propeller hub backed by two BS machine guns and the second with six BS guns. The latter was built specifically for comparison with Lend Lease P-40s. Although a fly-off demonstrated no great advantage in the local product, 600 ShVAK-armed Hawk 75B-1s were completed alongside 800 Hawk-75B-2s armed with six or four BS (depending on the batch).



Hawk-75A-11 White 29 is depicted here as photographed in July, 1941, at Khersones near Sevastopol. The personal mount of Lt. Asher Bakshi, the plane records his first two confirmed victories, the first being a Romanian SM-79B shared with Lt. Binyamin Mizrakhi and the second a Luftwaffe He-111. Lt. Bakshi would go on to fight until April 1943, when injuries and fatigue saw him withdrawn from combat with 17 confirmed kills, with another four victories shared. 8 (plus 3 shared) kills were achieved flying the Hawk 75-A-11, 3 while flying the A-12 and 6 (plus another half) while flying the B-1.

[NARSES2]

That's lovely. Such a "simple" scheme, carried off so well 

Interesting back story as well.

[comrade harps]

That's lovely. Such a "simple" scheme, carried off so well 

Thank you. I do like my curvy shapes.

[NARSES2]

That's lovely. Such a "simple" scheme, carried off so well 

Thank you. I do like my curvy shapes.

So do I, but it can get you arrested nowadays 

So good I've nominated it for a Wiffy 

[zenrat]

Lovely job.  The factory owner wouldn't like this one.  Well done.

[comrade harps]

That's lovely. Such a "simple" scheme, carried off so well 

Thank you. I do like my curvy shapes.

So do I, but it can get you arrested nowadays 

So good I've nominated it for a Wiffy 

Ta   

[Old Wombat]

Is good, comrade!

[Glenn Gilbertson]

That's original!

[comrade harps]

Lovely job.  The factory owner wouldn't like this one.  Well done.

Was Fairchild an anti-Semite?

[zenrat]

Lovely job.  The factory owner wouldn't like this one.  Well done.

Was Fairchild an anti-Semite?

I meant the bloke we were talking about at Expo.  The denier who hosts the meetings.

[comrade harps]

Lovely job.  The factory owner wouldn't like this one.  Well done.

Was Fairchild an anti-Semite?

I meant the bloke we were talking about at Expo.  The denier who hosts the meetings.

I see, yes, certainly 

As I purchased the Hawk kit on that day at Expo, I think that conversation might have something to do with the decision to select the Jewish Crimea option for this model.

Maybe I should post this one on my FB page and see if anyone bites

[TheChronicOne]

Hey nicely done!!  I like that lil feller a lot!