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Curtiss Fighter Aircraft: A Photographic History, 1917-1948

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What didn't make the notes is that "Diz" Dean (my father) passed away in 2001 before he was able to finish this book but, Dan Hagedorn, noted Curtiss historian, stepped in to complete it. Here is a section that didn't make the publication:

"Francis Hale Dean was born in Bridgeport, CT in 1925 where at a very young age he became fasinated with airplanes when his father, a second-generation Harvard-educated engineer took him to the local airport one weekend. Later, when his father suddenly passed away at 31, his young widowed mother and baby sister moved in with his mother's parents in the sleepy seaport town of Marblehead, MA -- but the memories of his visiting the Bridgeport airport lasted a lifetime, and we are all the benficiaries.

For years afterword young "Franny" would send to aircraft manufacturers for their sales brochures, collecting information on the aircraft of the times. One day two salesmen fron Stinson traveled from Boston several hours away and called on the residence of the man who had requested information on their Reliance, only to be told by his bewildered mother answering the door that Francis was only seven years old!

As a teenage, young "Diz" (nick-named for the famous pitcher Dizzy Dean) while pitching during a high school baseball game brought the game to a complete halt for several minutes, stopping to study a formation of fighter aircraft passing overhead (ferrying to England?), much to the chagrin of his coach. Thus he secured his reputation as an aircraft afficionado in the small town. Always a good student, he graduated fifth in his class.

A supportive grandfather living in nearby Lexington, MA (an established steam manufacturing engineer and principal of the Boston engineering firm Dean and Main (now Charles T. Main), and professor at Harvard)encouraged young Dean to pursue an education at Harvard. However Diz disappointed him by favoring the "other" engineering school in Boston, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and their Aeronautical Engineering program.

A stint in the Navy interrupted his college career when all able-bodied men were called to serve during WWII. At eighteen, he was stationed at sea and in mainland China. He would later say that he wanted to go to flight school but a strong-willed widowed mother forbad it, fearing for his safety. Dreams of flight never left him during the service; as an excellent freehand drawer, at sea he often passed the time decorating his bunk with his realistically-rendered action pictures of fighter aircraft of the period, mostly drawn in detail from memory.

Returning from the War to Marblehead to complete his studies, he married resident and high school classmate Evelyn Gardner who me met when he returned to the high school where she worked in the office processing transcripts for returning vets. After graduating from MIT with an AE degree he took a job with The Curtiss Wright Corp. of West Caldwell, NJ (now Fairfield) in the propeller division. He worked at C-W until 1965. When he left he worked in preliminary design where he was head design engineer of the VTOL aircraft X-19, which also is the subject of one of his books. In 1965 he moved his family to Swarthmore, PA and spent the rest of his career as design engineer at Boeing-Vertol of Ridley, PA until retiring in 1986.

During his career he also spent many personal hours adding to his growing collection of historical aviation material, including cataloging of production data on many models and versions of American miltary aircraft; swapping rare historical photos and negatives with other prominent collectors nationally, and otherwise researching topics with a particular interest in different production types and their engineering foundation. He also collected aviation books; became active in the American Aviation Historical Society and the American Helicoptor Society. Curtiss Aviation was a life-long area of particular interest.

When he retired in 1986 he turned to writing and editing aircraft history books. Before he died in November, 2001 he had written and published five books including the primer on the subject of comparative performance of WWII fighters, America's Hundred Thousand. His life-long collection is now part of the Air and Space division of the Smithsonian, where it can be viewed upon request ("Dean Collection"). This work was his last contribution, as he passed before he could complete it. HIs family is very grateful to Dan Hagedorn, a long time friend of Diz and Evie for completing it including securing and adding a previously-undiscovered list of all Curtiss production aircraft from the collection of noted historian and author Pete Bower also passed; and at great trouble and expense adding some color photos as well as many other contributions throughout."

Bob Dean, 4/07

The authors have written an excellent book covering all fighter aircraft built by Curtiss. It is loaded with pictures and there is an extensive narrative. There are many illustration of interesting and unusual versions of the various Curtiss models. There is a picture of a Japanese P-40 and information about a squadron of P-40s captured by and use operationally by the Japanese during World War 2 (for a short time until parts ran out). The P-36 (Hawk 75) and P-40 sections are a book in themselves. The section on post World War 2 models through the P-87 jet are quite good. Early Curtiss models are also covered very well. This book covers only fighter aircraft and does not cover other important Curtiss transports, seaplanes, dive bombers, etc. A book that covers all Curtiss aircraft is the excellent Putnam book "Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947" by the late Peter Bowers. I do not believe it to be in print though it appears to be available used. If anyone wishes to have a large information base on Curtiss aircraft, these two books would do it.

Curtis was at one time the largest manufacturer of aircraft in the United States, and they produced virtually every type of air plane. This book is on the fighters they produced from 1917 through the end of World War II. Of course the largest sections in the book have to do with the P-36, a very popular pre-war fighter and the P-40 one of the standard fighters of the war with some 14,000 produced. (About 15,500 P-51s and P-47s were produced so the P-40 was right up there.)

The amount of information in this book is amazing. In the case of the P-40, every model is discussed, and you get the feeling that just about every design modification. There is also extensive coverage of the attempts by the company to produce effective follow-on designs. Some of these are most interesting, especially the P-60C which was to have a Chrysler XV-2220 V-16 engine of 2,300 HP of which I had never heard.

I can only hope that there's another similar book like this one on the other Curtis designs such as the C-46 Commando and the SB2C Helldiver.

A Great Reference Book.

It's hard to imagine anyone bettering 'Diz' Dean and Dan Hagedorn's history of Curtiss fighters. The amount of information and photographs uncovered by the two authors and presented in this 2007 Schiffer book is simply amazing. Anyone interested in Curtiss fighters - whether they be the classic 'Hawk' biplane, Navy 'Helldiver' dive-bomber, Model 75/P-36 or the workhorse P-40 - will want to pick up a copy of this book.

Though subtitled 'A Photographic History, 1917-1948,' that qualifier really doesn't do justice to the book's makeup. The book is illustrated with hundreds of black & white and color photographs, diagrams, cutaways and profiles. Yet the bulk of the book's 384 pages is devoted to text. And that text is a goldmine for Curtiss enthusiasts! Dean and Hagedorn accessed databases previously unavailable to researchers, the result being a fascinating account of the development of Curtiss fighters including the first comprehensive survey of all those confusing Curtiss aircraft designations.

CURTISS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT is not only a nuts-and-bolts breakdown of fighter aircraft. It includes background history of the company, the changing requirements for fighter aircraft over the years, Curtiss' dealings with the military and operational usage of the different Curtiss warbirds. (The Model 75 and P-40 were not the only Curtiss fighters to see combat!)

In short, the authors have crafted a first rate narrative, blending technical data with history. CURTISS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT is aviation history research and writing at its best.

Highly recommended.

Dan Hagedorn took the time to complete this great book on Curtiss fighters started by the late Francis Dean and has made it the definitive work on the subject. The comprehensive text decribing every Curtiss fighter and their variants from WW-I through 1948 is complemented by 100's of photos. The book is a valuable reference and a must for any enthusiast's library.