Starting in March of 1936, China received the initial delivery of the Curtiss BF2C Goshawk, also known by it's export name, the Curtiss Hawk III, to replace it's rapidly obsolete fleet of Hawk II's.
By all accounts, 102 Hawk III's were delivered to China by June 1938, 12 in complete, flying condition and 90 shipped in crates to be assembled by the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Hangzhou.
When the Sino-Japanese War started in July of 1937, both the Hawks II/III were the primary fighters in the Chinese Air Force and as more Hawk III's made it to the squadrons, the Hawk II was regaled to training and light defense duties.
However, by October that same year, the Hawk III was already considered obsolete itself, despite proving itself in battle, sometimes against seemly impossible odds and making Aces out of it's pilots, it was slowly replaced by the Polikarpov I-15/I-16, Gloster Gladiator and a few others.
However, the Hawk III wouldn't go without a fight and was involved in one last aerial action over the skies of Chungking, trading bullets with Japanese bombers in May of 1940.
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