P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2 Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 86 Written by Lionel Persyn, Kari Stenman and Andrew Thomas Illustrated by Chris Davey Osprey Publishing 2009, 96 pages ISBN: 978-1-84603-409-1 P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2 at Osprey... Wow! I never knew how big a contribution the American Curtis P-36 Mohawk made to the Second World War. It fought from the start of the war until the end of 1943 and was still in service in 1946. Not bad for an aircraft that was produced from 1938 to 1940 before being superseded by the better-known P-40 Warhawk. The book is divided into six sections: one on the genesis of the fighter, one each on French service in France, French and South African service in Africa, Finnish service, US and British service in the Hawaii, India and Burma, and the appendices listing the aces who scored on this type. Like the preceding book, it has a thorough account of the combat actions involving this aircraft. The book is lavishly sprinkled with black and white photos of the pilots and their aircraft (I’m amazed at how many photos there are of such an obscure aircraft!), and has 32 colour profiles of aces’ aircraft and 1:72 scale plans.

To me the most interesting bits were the more obscure bits, such as the use of the Hawk by the Vichy French in Africa against the British and then the Americans. I wasn’t aware how hot the war between the British and the French was, even though the once and future allies were nominally at peace. The other area that surprised and interested me was the British Mohawks fighting in Burma and India through 1942 and 1943. It really was a backwater war with both sides using 1930’s aircraft until the arrival of newer types in 1944. Phil