Curtiss A-12 (Shrike)

History

The A-12 is an interwar product of Curtiss Aircraft and Motors, which debuted in 1933. This type was the first quantitative monoplane in service with the United States Army Air Corps. Only 46 Shrikes were produced, some of which appeared during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Its 1930s design concept soon made it obsolete, and many production lines were put on hold or relegated to training courses after the attack. Many end up in the scrap pile after effective use.

The origin of the A-12 lies in the original A-8 Curtis production model. The A-8 was the result of a request by the U.S. Army in the 1920s to replace the Curtiss A-3 Falcon biplane.

Both Atlantic Fork (General Aviation) and Curtis submitted designs for low-wing monoplanes of all-metal construction (known as the XA-7 and XA-8, respectively), equipped with the Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror V-12 Liquid - Cooling the inline piston engine. After a period of evaluation, Curtiss' submission was selected, not Atlantic-Fokker's design.

Several test aircraft were ordered, designated YA-8, and the final production aircraft became the A-8.

The first YA-8 was shelved and reused for feasibility testing, with an air-cooled radial engine installed in place of a liquid-cooled inline engine. By the early 1930;s, the USAAF had developed a belief that air-cooled engines should be the standard for all their future aircraft products. Their reasoning lies in the vulnerability of liquid-cooled engines when exposed to enemy ground fire, as an accidental hit could well render the engine, associated aircraft and its pilots inoperable. Another school of thought believes that operating and maintenance costs favor air-cooled engine types over inline engine types.

These two reasons led to the selection of the Pratt & Whitney powerplant as the engine to replace the original Curtiss-based Conqueror.

With the new engine, the YA-8 has now been renamed the YA-10 to represent the rebuild. The conversion itself was completed in September 1932, and the completed aircraft provided performance statistics comparable to the original A-8 platform. All remaining A-8Bs on order (about 46 in total) with liquid-cooled Conqueror engines have now been replaced with Pratt & Whitney radial engines. These models were then assigned the new production designation A-12.

Although the aircraft is often referred to as the "Shrike," in USAAC nomenclature it is officially referred to as simply "A-12." Shrike is the official name given by Curtiss for its A-12 product.

Externally, the A-12 retained many of the features of the A-8. The main difference between the two is the obvious inclusion of an air-cooled radial piston engine versus a liquid-cooled inline engine. The two cockpits were also brought closer together to facilitate better communication between the pilot (located in the open-air cockpit in the front) and the gunner/observer in the rear position.

An antenna structure rises high on the fuselage, above and between the two cockpit locations. The Pilot sits behind a sloping windshield in a very functional cockpit, complete with a front dash and open sides to expose wires, cables and pipes. The full-length cockpit is located behind the pilot's head, extending to the rear gunner's position. The tail gunner also sits in the open-air cockpit, but it has some glass in its place to accommodate the fuselage for better aerodynamics.

The body itself features a sleek tubular design with an all-metal construction. A distinguishing feature of the A-12 is its fixed undercarriage, with overly streamlined main gear - one under each wing - and a simple rear conventional tail wheel. The wings are low-mounted monoplane components with pronounced cable supports and slight V-shaped struts.

The wings are also all metal, although the ailerons are cloth-covered. A 690 hp Wright R-1820-21 Cyclone radial piston engine powered a three-bladed propeller system mounted on the very forward part of the pilot's windshield forward fuselage.

The rear wing adopts a traditional layout, with a vertical rear wing and a horizontal plane. The tail surface is also all metal, but the rudder and elevator parts are cloth covered.

The standard armament of the A-12 Shrike includes a 4x battery. The 30 caliber machine guns were in a fixed forward firing arrangement, with two cannons mounted on each landing gear (600 rounds of 0.30 caliber ammunition per machine gun). A C-4 ??sight was provided for the pilot. The rear gunner could use a .30 caliber machine gun mounted on a flexible mount to protect the aircraft "six".

In addition to machine gun armament, the A-12 is capable of light bombardment and can use up to four 122-pound conventional bombs under the wings. In place of these munitions, the Shrike can also use up to 10 x 30 lb cluster bombs or flares to mark targets at night. A 52-gallon external fuel tank can be used in place of bombs and dropped when empty.

Interestingly, the main fuel tanks on the A-12 fuselage can also be dropped by hand cranking.

A-12 delivered to USAAC in 1933. The first example turned into a single production model and two service test aircraft. The A-12 eventually became the mount of choice for the 8th Pursuit Group's 3rd Assault Group and the 37th Assault Squadron. The plane was eventually shipped from the mainland and landed at Wheeler Airport in Hawaii and later at Hickam Airport.

By the way, Hickam Field itself is named after Lieutenant Horace Meek Hickam, who died trying to land his A-12 Shrike at Fort Crockett, Texas.

Some A-12s received further significant development. One such conversion involves adding ski-like equipment in place of landing gear fairings to make the A-12 more "severe weather friendly".

This not only allows the Shrike to operate from icy or snowy airstrips, but also allows for viable landings and takeoffs from dirt, grass and paved airstrips. Another such development was the addition of inflatable bladders to the sides of the hull.

If the crew and the plane are forced to make an emergency landing on water, the airbags can be inflated to keep the A-12 afloat until rescuers arrive. Needless to say, these devices were never included in A-12 production.

Operationally, the A-12 has never been used in rage by the US military. Although the plane was present during the attack on Pearl Harbor, it never took off to defend the island, and the model was retired shortly after.

The A-12 also retains limited capabilities as a reconnaissance platform, and it can be modified through the use of onboard cameras. Also, the A-12 was obsolete at the start of World War II.

In 1936, at least 20 export versions of the A-12 were sold to China. These A-12s had a more powerful version of the air-cooled engine in the Wright SR-1820F-52, which produced 775 horsepower and offered a better top speed of 182 mph.

These shrikes soon served in the Chinese army against the Japanese, and the A-12s outnumbered the Japanese completely and barely survived.

Specification

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