Finnish Forces

Finnish Curtiss P-36 Hawk

During the Continuation War(1941-'44) Finland bought total of 44 captured Curtiss Hawks of five subtypes from Germany. In Finland the aircraft were given serial codes CU-551 to CU-585. In Finnish service, the Hawk was well-liked, affectionately called Sussu ("Sweetheart"). The Finnish Air Force enjoyed success with the type, credited with 190⅓ kills by 58 pilots, between 16 July 1941 and 27 July 1944, for the loss of 15 of their own. Finnish ace Kyösti Karhila scored 13¼ of his 32 victories in the Hawk, while the top Hawk ace K. Tervo scored 15¾ victories. The Hawks were flown by Lentolaivue 32(Flight Squadron 32)throughout their wartime operational service. The Finnish Hawks were initially armed with either four or six 0.295 in (7.5 mm) machine guns. While sufficient during the early phase of the Continuation War, the increasing speeds and armor of Soviet aircraft soon showed this armament was not powerful enough. From 1942, the State Aircraft Factory replaced the fuselage machine guns with either one or two 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Colt machine guns and installed two or four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in each wing. The 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Berezin UB or LKk/42 heavy machine guns were also used. The installation of heavier armament did not change the very good flying characteristics of the fighter, but the armament was much more effective against Soviet aircraft. The Finnish Hawks were also equipped with Revi 3D or C/12D gunsight. Surviving Finnish aircraft remained in service with the FAF aviation units HLeLv 13, HLeLv 11 and LeSK until 1948.