French H-75A-4 aircraft

[Buz]

Hi Guys

Can anyone out there please help with info on the French H-75A-4 aircraft. I'm trying to find out if their serials carried on after the H-75A-3 aircraft or if they restarted the serial count.

Any photo evidence would be gratefully recieved (just of the rudder)

Thanks

Buz

[CJE]

Yes they did restart, because this model was called "H-751".

[Buz]

Thanks for the Info,

Makes it intresting that the numbers were restarted but Curtiss did not restart the Customer no's. Additionally Curtiss record's that the A-2 aircraft were A-1 Aircraft, and do not mention any A-2 aircraft to the French at all.

Buz

[CJE]

Could be. The difference was in the armament, maybe not sufficient for Curtiss to change their designations.

[Lucien]

Here is a picture of Curtiss H751 Nr 83 taken in Fort-de-France, Martinique, in 1940. H751 designation is cearly seen on the fin.

[Modeldad]

The H-75A-4 / 751 had a different motor which required a different shape engine cowling. Only five or six ever arrived in France.

[Alex Smart]

Hello Steven,

To confirm your mail.

From Air Enthusiast Vol 2 No:1 (Jan 72).
"It was proposed to assemble the Hawk 75A-4s at La Rochelle as well as Bourges, but only six had been officially taken on strength by the Armée de l' Airat the time of the Armistice. Thirty were in process of being unloaded at La Rochelle in June when the vessel that had transported them across the Atlantic was sunk, taking most of the fighters with it to the bottom of the harbour.
Seventeen others were disembarked at Martinique and a further six at Guadeloupe after the vessels carrying them to France had been diverted."

Also of the 135 A-3s two were kept in the USA for testing.

Alex

[CJE]

Alex,
Your infos are 34 years old... Would you trust any Air International article of the seventies on the Bf 109?
We have made a lot of work and many new discoveries over here since then. We are working on an article on the H-751s (or H-75A-4s).
Will let you know when it is published.

Chris

[Alex Smart]

Hello CJE ,

While some of my magazines are 34 years old I am a lot older.

You may have made discoveries in the USA but then the aircraft was built there so that is where the information would be .

We here in Great Britain would not have easy access to it as you.

From what I have there is nothing very much new that has been mentioned either on this website or any other that I am aware of that has shed any information that is fresher than that from the Air Enthusiast Magazine issues in Vol 1 and 2 that I have.

So Mock Not you too may be old one day.

Alex

[CJE]

I assume we belong to the same generation, I'm 58.

No mockery, sorry if you felt it like this. It was not my intention.

It's not the archives of the country where the H-75s were built that matters (though there are minor discrepencies in the Curtiss archives) but those of the country where they were delivered, re-assembled and flown. More than 4 A-4s were pressed into service. As to the deliveries, a friend of mine dug up the bills of lading of the merchantmen. That's a very interesting piece of data.