File:Curtiss Hawk 1A ‘N982V’ “Gulfhawk” (51273115519).jpg

c/n 1 Built 1930 This aircraft started life as the Curtiss Hawk demonstrator, which was a Navy F6C-4 fitted with the undercarriage from an Army P-1. After a crash it was rebuilt with a Wright Cyclone engine and designated as the Hawk 1A. It was registered as N982V and flown by free-lance ex-military airshow pilot Al Williams, in an attempt to build enthusiasm for military aviation. After a major crash in 1931, it was rebuilt again and covered in aluminium skin. From 1933 the aircraft was sponsored by Gulf Oil Company and became known as the ‘Gulfhawk’. It was replaced in 1936 by the ‘Gulfhawk II’ and subsequently disappeared. It surfaced again in the late 1950’s at an Aviation Trade School in New York and was made airworthy again by Frank Tallman in California, albeit using several non-original components. It flew again in 1962 and became part of the Tallmantz Movieland of the Air Museum in Anaheim, California, making regular airshow appearances. In 1966 it was sold to the Rosen-Novak Auto Company but it was found that it should legally have been donated to the National Air Museum instead, as agreed with Al Williams before his death. In May 1969 it was sold to a private individual who then donated it to the Smithsonian Institute. After static display at Overton’s Wings and Wheels Museum in Mullens, South Carolina, it came to Washington in August 1982 and is seen on display at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center as part of the National Air and Space Museum. Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia