Slideshow: American air arsenal of 1941

Curtiss P-36 Hawk

The Army Air Corps was so impressed with the P-36 that they awarded Curtiss-Wright the largest peacetime order in U.S. history at the time. Other purchasers included the French, Dutch, Norwegians, Indians, Chinese, and the British. Seven French Air Force pilots became aces while flying Hawks (out of 11 total) before France surrendered. The Germans then sent captured French Hawks to Finland to fight the Soviets. The Vichy French used them against the Thais (also flying Hawks) in Southeast Asia. The Royal Air Force and the Dutch used them against the Japanese. The South Africans used them against the Italians.

In February 1941, a group of aging P-36s took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and landed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (a first for Army Air Corps pilots). And on December 7, 1941, a handful of those Hawks managed to lift off and engage the attacking Japanese pilots, scoring some of the United States’ first aerial victories of the war.