At the Curtiss demonstration of dive speed for the French, an amazingly high, 575 mph, was reported, but this was due mostly to error in the recording instruments. Still, the Hawk 75 could dive much faster than the unthinkably low 390mph IAS limit that was artificially placed on it by the USAAC. After all, this is the same basic airframe used in the Hawk 81 versions of the P40, and they were good for what?, 500mph IAS in the dive?
Also of note, the P36 was the first US Army aircraft with any kind of red line speed restrictions. We were entering a new world of aircraft performance.
Not bad for a design that dates to 1934.
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Personally speaking, the P-40 could contend on an equal footing with all the types of Messerschmitts, almost to the end of 1943.
~Nikolay Gerasimovitch Golodnikov
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