Curtiss F11C Goshawk The Curtiss F11C Goshawk was a 1930s United States naval biplane fighter aircraft that saw limited success but was part of a long line of Curtiss Hawk airplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the American military . Design and development . In April 1932 , when Curtiss was planning the Model 35B , the United States Navy contracted with the manufacturer for an improved derivative of the Model 34C , F6C as the " F11C " . It contained major changes that included the Wright R - 1510 - 98 radial engine , single - leg cantilever main landing - gear units , a slight increase in the interplane gap , metal - rather than fabric - covered control surfaces , and armament based on two fixed forward - firing machine gun s supplemented by a hardpoint under the fuselage for the carriage of a bomb , or an auxiliary fuel tank . Curtiss designed the type as the Model 64 Goshawk , with the U . S . Navy designation XF11C - 1 ( later XBFC - 1 after the adoption of the BF for Bomber - Fighter category ) . The aircraft was of fabric - covered metal construction , used the wing cell structure of the dismantled YP - 23 , and was delivered in September 1932 . Shortly before ordering the " XF11C - 1 " , the Navy had bought a company - owned Model 64A demonstrator . This had a Wright R - 1820 - 78 Cyclone engine , slightly longer main landing - gear legs carrying wheels with low - pressure tires , a tailwheel in place of the tailskid , fabric - covered control surfaces on the tail , and external provision for underwing racks for light bombs as well as an under - fuselage hardpoint for either a 50 gal ( 189 l ) fuel tank or the crutch that would swing a bomb clear of the propeller disc before release in a dive - bombing attack . Flight trials of this XF11C - 2 ( later redesignated as the XBFC - 2 ) revealed the need for a small number of minor changes . After making the changes , the " XF11C - 2 " came to be regarded as the prototype for the F11C - 2 , of which 28 examples were ordered as dual - role fighter - bombers in October 1932 . From March 1934 , the aircraft were revised with a semi - enclosed cockpit and a number of other modifications before they received the revised designation BFC - 2 in recognition of their fighter - bomber or , as the Navy would have it , bomber - fighter role The last aircraft in the XF11C - 2 contract was converted to the prototype XF11C - 3 , that incorporated a more powerful R - 1820 - 80 engine and a hand - operated retractable landing gear . Operational history . The only U . S . Navy units to operate the F11C - 2 were the Navy ' s famous " High Hat Squadron " , " VF - 1B " , aboard the carrier , and " VB - 6 " briefly assigned to . In March 1934 , when the aircraft were redesignated BFC - 2 , the " High Hat Squadron " squadron was renumbered VB - 2B , and then VB - 3B , and retained its BFC - 2s until February 1938 . VB - 6 never actually embarked on " Enterprise " with the BFC bombers . The F11C - 2 Goshawk was produced in two export versions as the Hawk I and Hawk II fighters . Essentially a modified XF11C - 2 , the Hawk II was fitted with a Wright R - 1820F - 3 Cyclone rated at at and 356 l of fuel while the Hawk I had 189 l of internal fuel . Both versions carried the same armament as the production F11C - 2 . Only the Hawk II was exported in quantity with Turkey , the first customer taking delivery of 19 on August 30 , 1932 . Colombia placed an order at the end of October 1932 , receiving an initial batch of four twin float - equipped Hawk IIs , the first of a total of 26 float fighters delivered by the end of July 1934 . The Colombian Air Force used Hawk II and F11C - 2 based in floats in the Colombia - Peru War in 1932 - 1933 . Nine Hawk IIs were supplied to Bolivia , of which three had interchangeable wheel / float undercarriages ; four were delivered to Chile , 52 to China , four to Cuba , two to Germany , one to Norway and 12 to Thailand as Hawk IIIs . Bolivian Air Force Operators . Chilean Air Force Chinese Nationalist Air Force Cuban Air Force Turkish Air Force Survivors . Though not interested in politics , Ernst Udet joined the Nazi party in 1933 when Hermann Göring promised to buy him two new Curtiss Export Hawk II ( D - 3165 and D - IRIK ) . The aircraft were used for evaluation purposes and thus indirectly influenced the German idea of dive bombers , such as the Junkers Ju 87 ( " Stuka " ) . Udet used D - IRIK in aerobatic exhibitions held during the 1936 Summer Olympics the aircraft survived the war , was eventually found in a field outside Kraków , and is now on display in the Polish Aviation Museum . A BFC - 2 is in the National Museum of Naval Aviation on NAS Pensacola , Florida , USA . A Hawk III , the only one existing , has been restored by the Royal Thai Air Force Museum . The aircraft on display is painted with ( Hanuman , white body ) insignia identifying it as belonging to Wing 4 . The Hawk III served in the RTAF between 1934 – 1949 .