Seversky P-35, 94th Pursuit Sqn., 1938

[Old Man]

The Seversky P-35 has a solid claim to significance in aviation history as the first fully modern pursuit ordered for service by the Army Air Corps, and into the bargain is a machine with a definite 'look' about it. But I suspect that much of its popularity with modelers 'of a certain age' here in the States owes to youthful encounters with the literary effort of its manufacturer, Maj. de Seversky, 'Victory Through Air Power'. I found it in my grade-school library, and was allowed to check it out over the summer when I was ten...

The book was a minor phenomenon in the middle years of WWII, beginning as a Book of the Month Club selection distributed to 'several hundred thousand opinion-making citizens' in the spring of 1942. A feature-length Disney production based on it, mixing animation with direct address by Maj. de Seversky appeared in 1943....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvvqZqsGrbQ

So well known did it become that in a Bugs Bunny short that year it was taken for granted everyone in any audience would get the opening sight gag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jljAMQNbl4Y

The book is an odd mixture of trenchant comment on strategy and operations then current or very recent, and theorizings and prognostications so far off the mark one might justly suspect a deliberate program of disinformation (though in the matter of 'battle-planes of the future' it is more likely Maj. de Seversky simply subscribed to one of the older schools of thought on the matter, and substituted 'will' for 'should', as people do at times...). The 'Seversky Pursuit' is very much the star of the book, and it is hard to emerge from reading the thing without some affection for the machine, along with some strong distaste for the Curtiss Company and its products (it was years before I could look a P-40 in the eye...)...

Maj. de Seversky accuses the Curtiss firm of much sharp practice in his book, but his winning the production contract for the P-35 owes to some sharp practice of his own. The U.S. Army Air Corps had announced a competition for a new pursuit plane to be begun in May, 1935. Seversky's intended entry was the SEV-2XP...

Had the competition been held on schedule with the planned entries, this would certainly have come in a distant second to the Curtiss Hawk 75 prototype...

En route to Wright Field for the competition, however, the SEV-2XP was damaged, and returned to the Seversky factory at Farminton, New York, where, over the next three weeks, it was repaired out of all recognition, being converted into a single-seat machine with a retracting landing gear.

Curtiss cried foul at this point, and the competition was postponed till April of 1936, in which time Curtiss also improved its design somewhat. The Seversky entry was adjudged the winner of the competition, however, when it was finally held, and a contract for 77 examples of the P-35 awarded to Seversky.

The first machine was delivered in June, 1937, and over the following year, squadrons of the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field outside Detroit, the Army's premier fighter group, came to be equipped with the type. Deliveries were slow, as the Seversky plant was small and unused to large orders, and there were problems particularly with the stowage of fuel in the wing structure, which was built to be a fuel tank --- the sealants proved unequal to the flexion of the wing in flight over time, and leaks became common, and could be very dangerous in flight if near the fuselage, where the vapor could meet hot exhaust.

Curtiss was able to take advantage of this, and when the Army let its next large contract for modern pursuits, the order for 210 machines went to Curtiss, who could not only guarantee quick delivery from their extensive production facilities, but could do so at a cut-rate price, providing the P-36 at little more than cost of manufacture (and considering it worth even a loss to secure future contracts as national re-armament loomed). In the 1st Pursuit Group, the P-35 served for a time alongside the new Curtiss fighter, and then was shipped out to newly formed units, and soon after retired from front-line service.

Seversky turned to the export market with an improved version of the P-35, featuring a more powerful motor and heavier armament, but the sale of twenty two-seat 'convoy fighters' to Japan in 1939 brought scandalous publicity, leading to Maj. de Seversky being forced out of his own firm, which became Republic Aviation. Some of the improved export models sold to Sweden were commandeered in 1940, and under the designation P-35A were used to equip fighter units in the Philippines; some were still in service when the Japanese attack came.

This model represents a machine of the 94th Pursuit Squadron. It is the current Special Hobby 1/72 kit of the P-35, in the 'Silver Wings' boxing. It is built pretty much 'out of the box' (I tweaked the motor front a little, and used 0.25mm rod instead of the kit's photo-etch for some small landing gear elements). I could not get the leader stripe decals to work for the kit's 94th P.S. decal option, and so swapped numbers about to provide a subject in the squadron's allotted range. It is finished with foil, home-made: I am of the iew nothing looks quite so much like metal as metal. This kit is a great improvement on the old MPM offering, but does remain a limited run kit: it should be approached with some alertness, but there will not be any major difficulties. The single-piece lower wing and clear plastic piece for the cargo compartment door are much appreciated (though the latter is a bit tricky to fit, and in this option had no window). My daughter bought this for me for my birthday a while back (having asked if there was anything I particularly wanted), and now that I have finished it, I will be giving it to her for her birthday. She is great young woman, and we are very proud of her.

[JWM]

Very nice build and interesting story of Major de Seversky and his competition with much well established Glenn Curtiss factory. My brother wrote Polish monography on P-35, and perhaps therefore it is particulary close to me, besides some quasi Polish roots of Seversky family. Weeks ago I posted my P-35A (vacu), but it is not so sharp as yours.

Best regards for you - and for you daughter.

Jerzy-Wojtek

[stevehnz]

Wonderful modelling & truly fascinating post, so much of interest in it. Thanks.

Steve.

[Spitfire31]

Superb model and an interesting read – thank you very much for both!

Kind regards,

Joachim

[Manipled Mutineer]

That is a very thoughtful gift and I'm sure will be much appreciated, as well as being a fine build. I also enjoyed reading more about the context of the fighter and its development, including recognising the cartoon clip! I'm tempted to hunt the book out now, having read more about it.

[HOUSTON]

Old Man,

a BEAUTIFULLY RESPLENDENT P-35...

SHE LOOKS AWESOME...

I think your daughter will be impressed by it as I am by your lovely build...

AWESOME work...

[rmcclure]

That's a great model, full of character and a fascinating story.

Cheers,

Roger

[Old Man]

Thank you very much, Gentlemen!

This is a model I had wanted to build for a long time.