By Hans J. Storck, EAA 1589326, with thanks to Fred Barber, EAA 8784
Al Williams was kicking his 1000-hp Gulfhawk hard over the Cleveland Municipal Airport at the National Air Races air show in August 1931. Ernst Udet was more than impressed with its awesome powerful display. Both were 35 years old at the time, but each had a quite different history. Williams, a Navy-educated aviator, was lucky enough to miss WWI, but Udet claimed 62 victories as a fighter pilot, the highest score of all surviving German pilots. After the war, they both went into the emerging air show business. Udet was limited to light 100-hp sport planes to comply with the Versailles treaty, but Williams could build on the latest status of the stormy technical development of the U.S. in the 1920s and ‘30s and faced no such restrictions.
Williams’ dramatic vertical displays of the Gulfhawk (now on display in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.), a one-of-a-kind radial-engine aerobatic biplane originally based on a Curtiss Hawk I, were truly impressive, especially when compared to the carefully arranged low-level horizontal displays of Udet with his 125-hp Flamingo. Returning to Germany, Udet imagined the sensation that such a powerful airplane would bring to the German air shows of the 1930s. He made his living only from air shows, which were very popular at the time, with almost 100,000 spectators attending each show. But a Curtiss Hawk, at more than $20,000, was too much for his budget.
Udet hadn’t worn a uniform for 13 years at the time and was not keen to return to a Luftwaffe career, since he loved his free life on the air show circuit. Nevertheless, he contacted his old commander in the Richthofen Geschwader, Hermann Göring, and asked if the Luftwaffe could support and finance the import of a Curtiss Hawk to Germany. With the takeover of power in 1933, Göring was appointed to the head of the Luftwaffe and was interested in recruiting the popular Udet as his point person for his plan to rearm and rebuild the German Luftwaffe. So Göring’s deal was: I buy two Hawks for you, and you take over the aviation industry and testing department of the new Luftwaffe. Udet didn’t want the uniform, but he was really excited about the Hawks.
When he returned to the Cleveland National Air Races in August 1933, he already had arranged the money transfer with the German embassy in Washington. So at the end of September 1933, he flew the Hawk II (export) Serial No. 80 and Serial No. 81 in Buffalo. Both airplanes were packed on the steamer SS Europa and shipped to Bremerhaven. The airplanes were assembled by Udet’s personal mechanic, Baier, in Berlin. Udet crashed the No. 80, registered D-IRIS, in aerobatic practice over Tempelhof already in December the same year. But No. 81, registered D-IRIK, was his signature showplane for many air shows in the following years.
Udet and his friend Walter Angermund organized a series of high-level air shows with the support of the Luftwaffe, Lufthansa, and many wartime and women pilots. One of the largest air shows was during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. His best trick was an almost vertical dive with the Hawk from 12,000 feet at 290 mph, ending in a 15-foot low pass over the field in front of the spectators. The history books note that this was the birth of the Stuka precision dive bomber weapon and nobody can ignore the comparison, but my very personal opinion is that Udet was focused on the thrill and excitement for him and the spectators — first and foremost, he was a gifted showman, and he seemed much less a warrior. This was perhaps why he failed in his Luftwaffe assignment and committed suicide in 1941. Nobody in the U.S. would have had expected, say, Roscoe Turner to assume responsibility for the coordination of the entire wartime aviation industry, but Udet’s job was exactly this.
Unlike Udet, D-IRIK survived the war in a railway wagon, which was found on Polish territory after the new European borders were established. Today his Curtiss Hawk F11C-2 still exists in the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow and is the last original example of the Navy variant of the Hawk series worldwide. The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, has the last original Curtiss Army Hawk P-6E of the same generation. All other airplanes are exacting replicas of these two original airplanes, but none are airworthy.
After my first visit to Krakow in 1997, I was intrigued by the idea of flying Udet’s Hawk again. But the idea was put aside for many more urgent projects. On a night drive from the Reno Air Races to Las Vegas last September, Rainer Berndt, EAA 575738, and I revisited the idea, and we decided to fly the Hawk again. He as the sponsor and myself as the reverse engineer, project leader, and builder. At that time, we had the assumption that the Krakow Hawk was the precious but only source of information for the project.
In November, we travelled to Krakow together and were again overwhelmed by the powerful presence even of the static airplane. The curator told us that there was an American airplane historian and builder by the name of Fred Barber, EAA 8784, with a postal address in Georgia, who had made drawings for the wing in the 1990s and had even more drawings. Wow, that was great news — but how to get in contact with him?
So I asked Matt Bauer, EAA 1327014, a friend living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his help: how can I find a person with a 30-year-old mailing address? He came back with three phone numbers. I called all three, and the third was an answering machine. I left a message, and Fred (now 85 and living in Missouri!) called me the next day! That was exciting! And indeed, he was full of information about the F11C-2 and the P-6E. He’d sold the drawings to Fagen Fighters in Idaho since he finished his study a long time ago and decided not to build a Hawk. But his drawings were the basis of the wing reconstruction for the Krakow airplane. Fagen Fighters was kind enough to sell me a copy of Fred’s drawings and a box of cast airframe parts which Fred had already prepared for the project.
Fred did a great job! After intensive investigation in the 1980s and ‘90s, he found microfilm rolls with original Curtiss drawings of the Army Hawks in the National Air and Space Museum archive in Washington, D.C. But the quality of these films was too poor for the workshop. So he printed out about 280 key drawings in small sections, taped them together, and made new, readable drawings. After the complete measurement of the Krakow airplane, I now can confirm that the P-6E and the F11-C have an identical fuselage structure other than the engine installation, which we can duplicate using the original as a template. I have now integrated all information from the F11C-2 handbook, Curtiss drawings, and Krakow measurements in my own workshop drawings. Fred really gave us a rocket start for the project!
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 gave Fred, Rainer, and myself the opportunity to meet in person, and what better location than in front of the gorgeous P-6E Hawk recreation built by Ralph Rosanik that is on display in the EAA Aviation Museum. What a great moment to meet after many months of mainly email contact! John Saunders from P-40 Aviation and Matt Bauer also joined the party! The EAA staff was kind enough to arrange everything for a productive working meeting directly at the Hawk.
Ralph Rosanik wrote a book of his 25 year P-6E project, titled The Hawk Safari. We understand that we started our own safari, but we don’t have 25 years – we want to finish in only four! Since we are not getting any younger, we need to make the best use of our time and now with Fred’s help we are really getting up to speed.
Now the CAD design of the wings is completed, the spars are bonded, and the plywood for the ribs machined. All the steel and aluminum material is ordered. The landing gear is in progress. The project has now 8-10 enthusiasts that will help realize the dream of many aviators: to see the Udet Hawk flying again!
But what we are still missing for a truly happy ending to this project is the engine. We’re looking for a Wright R-1280-F Cyclone nine-cylinder radial engine with direct drive and a 40-spline prop shaft, along with the matching propeller. We had hoped to find some traces of one in Oshkosh, but all the leads we found were cold so far. We know that at least nine of these engines still exist, so we’re optimistic that we will find the “Wright” one. Any help or advice is welcome, since we have a challenging time connecting with the antique aviation network from Germany.