This official photograph depicts a Curtiss P-36 Hawk, the U.S. Army Air Corps' principal pursuit fighter in the years immediately preceding American entry into World War II. Powered by a radial engine and armed with machine guns, the P-36 represented the transition from open-cockpit biplanes to modern all-metal monoplane fighters. Though soon eclipsed by the more heavily armed P-40 Warhawk, the P-36 served as an important stepping stone in American fighter design and saw combat use by Allied air forces in the early Pacific War. Project: 218470