XBFC-1 Hawk

The Curtiss XBFC-1 Hawk was a prototype naval fighter developed in the late 1930s to meet the United States Navy’s call for a high‑performance, carrier‑capable aircraft. First flown on 12 March 1939, the Hawk combined a low‑wing monoplane layout with a powerful Pratt & Whitney R‑1830 radial engine delivering 1,050 horsepower. Its all‑metal stressed‑skin construction, retractable landing gear, and fully enclosed cockpit were advanced for the era, while the wings incorporated split‑flaps and leading‑edge slats to improve low‑speed handling during carrier landings. Armament consisted of two .50‑caliber machine guns mounted in the forward fuselage and provisions for up to 200 lb of bombs.

Although only a single prototype was built, the XBFC‑1’s design influenced later Curtiss naval fighters, most notably the F4C‑1 and the iconic F4U Corsair. The Hawk demonstrated that a compact, single‑engine fighter could achieve both high speed—reaching 340 mph at 15,000 ft—and the robust durability needed for deck operations. Its experimental features helped shape the Navy’s transition to monoplane fighters and set performance benchmarks that guided subsequent wartime aircraft development. Today, historians view the XBFC‑1 as a key bridge between early biplane dogfighters and the all‑metal monoplanes that dominated World War II, highlighting Curtiss’s impact on carrier aviation.