Curtis Tomahawk was one of the many types of aircraft sent to Britain from the United States. Fighter machines of this kind were brought over by sea, the fuselage and engine in one crate and the wing assembly in another. Here a Tomahawk (Curtiss Hawk 81) is seen in the assembling shop at an R.A.F station, where mechanics are adjusting the three-bladed, electrically controlled, variable-pitch, propeller. Beneath the crankcase can be seen the radiators, and six exhaust tubes jut from the engine cowling. The Tomahawk, which was the United States equivalent of the Hawker Hurricane, had a 12 cylinder Allison engine of the "V" liquid-cooled type, developing 1,090 hp. Each machine went through a flying test before being sent to its operational station.
