A new boxing, but a model you already know. The Curtiss H-75A in 1/72 scale returns with three new marking options – including the two many of you have been asking about since the release of our first Curtiss: Vichy and Finland.
The kit includes aircraft from the first two French versions – the H-75A-1 and H-75A-2. They share an interesting detail: all three aircraft are early Curtisses fitted with only one machine gun in each wing. The A-1 carried four machine guns – two in the fuselage and two in the wings. The A-2 introduced a heavier six-gun armament, with two guns in each wing, but the first aircraft of this series still retained the earlier four-gun arrangement. This means all three marking options in the kit can be built in the same characteristic early wing configuration, with one gun on each side.
But these are more than just three attractive sets of markings. Behind each aircraft is another chapter in the remarkable story of the French Curtisses.
The H-75 was built in the United States, bought by France and, in 1939, intended to fight the Germans. And it did fight the Luftwaffe. Later, however, events took such a turn that aircraft of the same type – and sometimes even the very same airframes – ended up on very different sides of the war.
In Africa, Vichy French Curtisses fought the Americans. Others, captured by the Germans and passed on to Finland, fought against the Soviet Union. The story of our third aircraft leads to Chartres, where Czechoslovak pilots trained on French Hawks after escaping the German occupation of their own country to continue the fight.
Three markings. Three very different stories of the same fighter.
An American Curtiss against an American Wildcat
Curtiss H-75A-2 No. 130 (U030), 2e Escadrille GC I/5, Georges Tesseraud, Rabat, 1942
This is the most striking marking option in the kit – and the aircraft shown on the box art.
After the defeat of France in 1940, part of the French air force came under the control of the Vichy government. Curtiss H-75s remained in service with units stationed in North Africa, among other places. For more than two years, however, the Germans were no longer their enemy.
That situation changed abruptly in November 1942.
On 8 November, the Allied Operation Torch began – the American and British landings in French North Africa. Vichy forces resisted. The result was one of the strangest episodes in the history of the Curtiss H-75: French fighters built in the United States took off to fight American aircraft.
One of them was No. 130 of 2e Escadrille GC I/5, flown by Georges Tesseraud.
On the morning of 9 November, eight F4F-4 Wildcats of VF-9 attacked French fighters escorting bombers. Among the American pilots was Ens. Louis A. Menard, flying F4F-4 Wildcat 9-F-15, BuNo 11762.
Ens. L. Menard’s encounter with Georges Tesseraud, artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz
Menard attacked one of the Curtisses from above. Everything points to his opponent having been Tesseraud. Bullets struck the H-75 around the cockpit and rear fuselage, badly wounding the French pilot.
Despite his wounds, Tesseraud managed to break away from the fight and bring the damaged aircraft down in an emergency landing near Bouhat.
So in a single combat we have two American fighters – a Curtiss and a Grumman – carrying French and American markings and fighting on opposite sides of the war.
At the time, H-75 No. 130 carried the particularly striking markings of the Vichy air force: French camouflage combined with the bright recognition markings used in North Africa. This is exactly the sort of scheme many of you have been asking us for since the release of our first H-75.
From France, through Germany, to Finland
Curtiss H-75A-1 CU-577, LeLv 32, Lt P. Virtalahti, Nurmoila, October 1943
The story of the second Curtiss shows even more clearly just how unusual the wartime careers of these aircraft could be.
CU-577 began its life as the French H-75A-1 No. 23, military registration X-822. In 1939 it served with GC I/5. As early as 30 September it was badly damaged in aerial combat, although its pilot, Sous-Lieutenant Boitelet, escaped unhurt.
The aircraft was repaired and returned to service. In the spring of 1940 it found itself with GC II/4. On 28 April, after running out of fuel, Sgt Hème made a forced belly landing. The Curtiss went back for repairs once again – this time to the workshops at Toulouse.
And this is where the second part of its career begins.
The aircraft remained in France and was taken over by the Germans in 1942. It did not, however, enter combat service with the Luftwaffe. The Germans passed captured Curtisses on to Finland, which needed fighters for the war on the Eastern Front.
The former French No. 23 received a new identity: CU-577.
In Finland, the Curtisses were repainted and marked according to Finnish standards. Aircraft that had been ordered from the United States for the Armée de l’Air only a few years earlier now carried Finnish markings and fought Soviet aircraft.
CU-577 served with LeLv 32, and one of the pilots who flew it was Lt P. Virtalahti. The marking option in the kit shows the aircraft at Nurmoila in October 1943.
Finnish pilots valued the Hawks, and the captured Curtisses saw intensive operational use. For the H-75 this was not a quiet end to its career on some secondary front, but another period of regular frontline service.
CU-577 survived the war. Its story finally came to an end in 1948.
Before they became aces – Czechoslovaks at Chartres
Curtiss H-75A-2 No. 140 (U040), “1”, 3e Escadrille, 2e Groupe CIC Chartres, spring 1940
The third marking option is much less colourful, but behind it lies a story that nicely illustrates the international character of the French air force in 1940.
After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, many of its airmen escaped abroad. Some eventually reached France. Before they could join the fight against the Luftwaffe, however, they had to train on French equipment.
One of the places where they were prepared for combat service was the Centre d’Instruction de la Chasse – CIC at Chartres.
It was there that Curtiss H-75A-2 No. 140 served, at the time carrying the simple tactical number “1”.
Czechoslovak pilots flew the aircraft while training before assignment to frontline units. Among them was Alois Vašátko, who would soon become one of the leading Czechoslovak pilots of the French Campaign.
The story of No. 140 did not end at the training school.
In May 1940, as the German offensive in the West changed the situation from one day to the next, the aircraft was transferred to the combat unit GC II/5. There it received different markings and went to war.
In kit 70093, however, we show it in its earlier Chartres guise – from the period when future Czechoslovak combat pilots were still using it to prepare for their fight against the Luftwaffe.
One aircraft, changing sides in wartime
The history of the H-75 goes far beyond the French Campaign of 1940. Designed and built in the United States, the aircraft was bought by France to fight the Germans. After the fall of France, however, its story split off in several very different directions.
French Hawks fought the Luftwaffe. Pilots from occupied Czechoslovakia trained on them so that they could return to the war. Vichy aircraft later fought the Americans over North Africa. Machines captured by the Germans, meanwhile, went to Finland and fought the Soviets.
That is why in 70093 Curtiss H-75A1/A2 we brought together not only three attractive marking options, but three stories showing just how far the war could carry a single fighter type – and how much its role, markings, pilots and even the side it fought for could change along the way.
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Sources and further reading
The history of the Curtiss H-75 is unusually complex – individual aircraft changed units, countries, markings and sometimes even sides during the conflict. In preparing the marking options for kit 70093 and the stories behind them, we used, among others, the following sources:
Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell; Olynyk, Frank; Bock, Winfried. A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945: Volume Three: Tunisia and the End in Africa, November 1942–May 1943. London: Grub Street Publishing.
The descriptions of the air combats on 9 November 1942 used in this article, together with the “US Claims” tables that help reconstruct the encounters between American Wildcats and French Curtiss H-75s during Operation Torch, come from this publication.
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945: Volume Three – Google Books
PassionAir1940 – individual histories of Curtiss H-75 aircraft
A detailed record of the histories of individual French aircraft by serial number. Particularly useful for tracing No. 23 (X-822), later the Finnish CU-577: its French service, damage, repairs and subsequent fate. Curtiss H-75 – PassionAir1940
Modeller happy enough to work in his hobby. Seems to be a quiet Aspie but you were warned. Enjoys talking about modelling, conspiracy theories, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and internet marketing. Co-founder of Arma Hobby. Builds and paints figurines, aeroplane and armour kits, mostly Polish subject and naval aviation.
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Cześć Wojtek, cieszymy się, że skorzystałeś z materiałów z naszej strony 4+ przy tworzeniu waszego nowego modelu Curtiss 75A1/A2 (70093). Dzieki. Michal Ovcacik