Curtiss CW-21B
Here's my latest Dora Wings build, the CW-21B in 1:48.
The CW 21 was an effort by Curtiss pre-war to provide a lightweight interceptor based on their earlier CW-19 trainer with a high rate of climb and decent top speed. It lacked armor and self-sealing tanks to save weight. The US was not interested, but China and the Netherlands expressed interest. It was powered by a Wright R-1820-G5 engine of 1000 hp and performance was as expected with a strong rate of climb and a maximum speed of 315 mph. Armament was 1 x .50 caliber machine gun and 1x .30 caliber gun firing through the propeller. Optional firepower was 2 x .50s, or 2 x .30s.
China received a prototype for their review and liked what they saw, as the prototype actually managed to down an enemy bomber. They had a contract to retain the prototype and three more flyable units and an additional order for 27 more to be armed with 2 x .30 and 2 x .50 caliber guns. However, in May of 1940 all 4 of the early CW 21s were lost or crashed and the remaining 27 were never delivered.
Despite this setback, Curtiss continued development, and changed the landing gear to retract the main gear inward to be flush with the wing instead of the rearward retracting gear housed in pods under the wing. They also changed the flaps to be hydraulically operated. The R-1820 was retained and armament was 4 x .30 caliber guns. The changes were enough to warrant the new designation of "CW-21B"
24 B models were sold to the Netherlands in April of 1940. They were never delivered to the Netherlands before their capitulation in May, and this order was diverted to the Dutch East Indies.
While the CW-21Bs managed to score a few kills, the CW-21Bs proved to be fodder for the better equipped and more experienced Japanese aviators. Most were destroyed or captured by the Japanese, some were victims of crashes. A total of 62 CW 21s were built including the B models.
The kit is typical Dora Wings, not too difficult, a few things needed sanding and trimming to get a good fit. The top of the canopy got a thin coat of Alclad clear yellow on the inside for tinting. The paint was Tamiya as called out in the instructions. I added Eduard seat belts, wired the engine, and modified the prop to spin freely.
The last pic is the CW-21 demonstrator sent to China - note the rearward retracting gear.
Very nice. I need one
Very nice! I'm a fan of Dora Wings.
Looks really good. Like the airfield pics as well. I have always liked this aircraft, and as there will never (say never) be a 1/32 scale kit I guess I'll snag a Dora.
Excellent result and a really interesting story, Chas!
Well done!
Looks great. @chasbunch
Fantastic build of a really elegant plane, @chasbunch. Lovely paintjob with subtle weathering!
Excellent build and interesting story, Chas @chasbunch
She looks great with Dutch markings.
A rarely built and seen aircraft type. But the result in your presentation is excellent. Also an instructive history of this type. I really like both designs.
Nice work, Chas!
There must have been some of these that made it to China, because in March 1942, Erik Shilling and two other AVG pilots were flying three of them from Burma to Chungking, when they got trapped by weather. The other two crashed and were killed. Erik managed to bail out and was captured by indigenous people who had never seen a white man before and decided since he had been flying that he was Japanese. They put him in a hole and after a week things were looking bad when a Chinese Army patrol fortuiously arrived and rescued him. This resulted in the famous "blood chits" promising payment if the flyer was rescued and returned.
Nice work on the model. Good history on this thing.
Thanks for that info, Tom. I didn't know what happened to Schilling. Apparently those three were the ones that were lost along with the demonstrator. Don't know what happened to the other 27 units ordered by the Chinese.
An enjoyable read and a neat looking model.
Well - so I enter 2024 learning about a new aircraft I was completely unaware of! Very nice build of an interesting aircraft - well done!
Great little CW-21B Chas. I have the book "Curtiss Aircraft" 1907-1947 by Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute Press. The book says there were 4 CW -21 (Deamon)s built. The first of witch was sold by the Curtiss Export Devision in February 1939 to China, where they promptly crashed it. Three others were sold to China in March 1940, but al km three were lost on. The ferry flight from Rangoon to there base in China. This is probably tha AVG incident that Mr. Cleaver (@tcinla) mentioned.
There was a proposed CW-21A that was to have the Allison V-1710 engine installed in the airframe along with the inward-retracting landing gear that was then used on the CW-21B.
Twenty-four CW-21Bs were sold to the Netherlands East Indies in 1941, all with the inward-retracting landing gear. The book goes on to say that the CW-21B saw brief but intensive action following the Japanese invasion of Java in 1942 and some were captured by the Japanese, C/ns: including (20). This is definitely a nice little kit of a pretty cool plane. I think I'm going to have to get one of these Dora kits.
Curtiss went on to build the CW-22/SNC-1 (Falcon) basically a tandem seat CW‐23. It looked much the CW-19 that the CW-21 was developed from. I like the looks of the twin seat versions a little better. I think their proportions are a little better looking.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Thanks, Clint. I was aware of the Allison powered idea, don't think it got off the drawing board.
I've also done the Dora SNC-1 and have a CW-22 in my stash, some of those were also in service with the Dutch in the East Indies, at least one of those was captured and flown by the Japanese.
I'll have to get Bowers' book!
Thanks for the heads up on the Dora CW-22 an the SNC-1. I REALLY have to look more closely at there range of kits. It seems like they have a lot of obscure aircraft most manufacturers don't have. And yes, definitely try to find it, I don't know when it was in print last, but if your a Curtiss fan at all, you should have it.
What a lovely aircraft, Chas.
This DW kit will definitely be added to my stash of Dutch military aircraft to be build.
Hope it will turn out as nice as yours.