The Curtiss P Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in The P design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. The lack of a two-speed supercharger for the P's Allison V engine's made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf or the Focke-Wulf Fw in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe.
However, between and , the P played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa , the Southwest Pacific , and China.
The P's performance at high altitudes was not as important in those theaters, where it served as an air superiority fighter , bomber escort and fighter-bomber. Although it gained a postwar reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support , more recent research including scrutiny of the records of Allied squadrons indicates that this was not the case; the P performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also inflicting a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft.
Berlin by a liquid-cooled, supercharged Allison V V engine. The first prototype placed the glycol coolant radiator in an underbelly position on the fighter, just aft of the wing's trailing edge. Curtiss engineers worked to improve the XP's speed by moving the radiator forward in steps.
Seeing little gain, Kelsey ordered the aircraft to be evaluated in a NACA wind tunnel to identify solutions for better aerodynamic qualities. Other improvements to the landing gear doors and the exhaust manifold combined to give performance that was satisfactory to the USAAC. An unusual production feature was a special truck rig to speed delivery at the main Curtiss plant in Buffalo, New York.
