The new Boeing–Saab T-7 Red Hawk, which has admittedly had some serious teething problems (what weapon doesn’t?), is described by the company as “a low-risk, leading-edge, live, virtual and constructive fifth-generation aircrew training system that delivers a multi-generational leap in capability to revolutionize and reinvigorate fighter pilot training.”
First delivered T-7, Boeing image 230914-F-F3456-1001
It certainly looks fast and capable on the ground, but of course, time will tell on these things and the USAF just accepted its first (of 351 planned) Red Hawks in September.
Now it seems some in the fighter mafia want to arm it up and develop it into the F-7, to use it to replace older F-16s.
There is a long history of simple yet very aerobatic trainers turned into fine combat aircraft and low-cost exports for cash-poor allies. For instance, the two-seat Northrop T-38 Talon — which the Red Hawk is replacing after a storied 60-year run– was developed into the single-seat F-5A the year after the first T-38 was delivered and began shipping to overseas allies two years after that. The Soviets inherited a few post the fall of Saigon and in tests found that it beat the MiG-21 and 23 almost every single time.
But it doesn’t always work out like that.
Take the case of the CW-21.
Curtiss Wright developed the single-seat CW-21 Interceptor (often mistakenly called the CW-21 Demon) in the late 1930s from Carl W. Scott’s two-seater CW-19 utility/advanced trainer aircraft which had some limited export success to Caribbean and Latin American countries.
Keeping almost the exact same length, wing area, and span as the CW-19, the CW-21 was given better aerodynamics and a huge boost in power (from 350 hp to 850 hp) that, combined with its low weight, meant it was optimized for climb and speed, capable of 314 mph (roughly the same as the Morane-Saulnier MS.410 and the Hawker Hurricane and superior to both the Oscar and Zero).
The armament was nose-heavy with a pair of Colt .50 caliber machine guns above the massive engine inside the cowling and another pair of Colt .30 caliber machine guns below it, synchronized to fire through the propeller disc, keeping the thin swept wings light.
It looked great and got some good press as being able to climb a “mile in a minute and one half.”
The thing is, it was criticized by pilots as being difficult to handle, with one U.S. Army Air Corps officer famously saying that it “took a genius to land it.”
Nevertheless, the KMT Chinese and the Free Dutch East Indies governments, to whom it was pitched as just the thing to zap roaming Japanese bombers, were hungry for just about anything they could get and Curtiss was already selling them lots of other types as well.
In “Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947″ by Peter M. Bowers, he details just four CW-21s were built by the company (NX19431, 19941-19943. C/ns: 21-1/21-4) and a further 51 sold as kits in two types to be assembled by the host country.
The completed aircraft and 27 kits were sold to China to be built by CAMCO at Loiwing, near the Burma border for use by the Flying Tigers. This ended in failure with the original demonstrator crashing in China, and the three production aircraft crashing into a mountain while being ferried from Rangoon to Kunming two weeks after Pearl Harbor. None of the kits made it out of Loiwing, being abandoned and destroyed in place when the Japanese rushed in the spring of 1942.
It seems some of the kit remnants were still there when the Allies came back to Loiwing in 1945.
The rest of the kits (24 Type B aircraft with a billed top speed of 333 mph) made it to Andir airfield in Java and to the hands of the military aviation branch of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (ML-KNIL) where they were assembled locally starting in February 1941 and equipped the Vliegtuiggroep IV, Afdeling 2 (“Air Group IV, No. 2 Squadron”; 2-VLG IV). under 1/Lt. R.A.D. Anemaet. However, the combination of a big engine on a light aircraft at the hands of green pilots led to almost immediate structural problems and only nine were still in service by that December.
Still, they certainly looked fast and capable on the ground in 1941 in Java, with several images surviving today of 2-VLG IV and their newly assembled and camouflaged CW-21Bs in the NIMH archives, captured at the time by one Jan B. van der Kolk.
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL. AKL023173
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL AKL082371a
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL 2039-001-087-009
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL AKL082365
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL AKL082371b
Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor van ML-KNIL AKL082370
They reportedly had a few limited victories against the Japanese but by 3 March 1942, the final CW-21 combat sortie had been flown.
One ex-Dutch aircraft was recovered in Japanese service in 1945 at the Tachikawa test facility in Singapore.
Today, the only CW-21 around are scale models.
ML-KNIL Curtiss Wright CW-21 Interceptor #CW-357 piloted by Sgt. Hermann depicted shooting down a Japanese Mitsubishi F1M2 (Pete) as seen on MPM models box art by painter Stan Hayek