A transport aircraft powered by three Anzani engines, registered N9743 c/n 3-C.
Piston
Curtiss-Wright CW-4 Commercial
Powered by a Siemens engine and registered N9742 c/n 2-C, the designation conflicts with one built in August 1933 by Curtiss-Wright as a CW-4, aka T-32 Condor II, c/n 35.
Curtiss-Wright CW-3 Duckling / Teal
The Curtiss-Wright CW-3 Duckling (sometimes called the Teal) was an American two-seat amphibian flying-boat developed by Curtiss-Wright as a modification of the CW-1 Junior. The new aircraft was distinguished by a double cabin, where the pilot and passenger sat side by side, and the new fuselage. The fuselage had a plywood V-shaped underside added and the addition of strut-mounted pontoons. The engine was mounted above the wing driving a pusher propeller. The wing and engine installation remained unchanged, although floats were added under the wing for stability on the water surface.
First flying in 1931 only three aircraft were built, all powered by different engines, but the power was the same – 90 hp (67 kW).
The first prototype was equipped with a Velie M-5 radial engine, the second CW-3L for $1,250 with a Lambert engine, the third CW-3W with a Warner Scarab engine.
The release of CW-3 ended there, since the financial crisis began in the USA and there were no amphibious customers.
CW-3L
Engine: Lambert, 90 hp
MTOW: 544 kg
Wingspan: 12.04 m
Length: 6.48 m
Wing area: 16.38 sq.m
Maximum speed: 129 km / h
Cruising speed: 105 km / h
Crew: 2
CL-3W
Engine: 1 × Warner Scarab, 90 hp (67 kW)
Wingspan: 39 ft 6 in (12.04 m)
Length: 21 ft 3 in (6.48 m)
Crew: two
Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior
The Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior of 1931 (ATC 397) was designed by Karl White (modified from the CR-1 Skeeter). Selling for $1,490-1,595, 270 were built.
Engine options were numerous — even four tiny model-aircraft motors were used at the 1938 Nationals to demonstrate its modest power demands in order to fly, which it did, piloted by Dick Granere). Many were later converted to Continental A-40 to -65 power.
The CW-1A Junior of 1933 (ATC 2-442) was a single CW-1, NC11851, as a test bed for a 35hp Augustine B4-40 engine.
Two CW-1S Junior were built in 1936 (ATC 2-525) as CW-1 with 40hp Salmson AD-9 engines.
CW-1
Engine: 45hp Szekely SR-3 pusher
Wingspan: 39’6″
Length: 21’3″
Height: 7 ft 4 in
Wing area: 176 sq.ft
Empty weight: 570 lb
Loaded weight: 975 lb
Useful load: 420 lb
Max speed: 80 mph
Cruise speed: 70 mph
Stall: 32 mph
ROC: 600 fpm
Service ceiling: 12,000 ft
Range: 200 mi
Seats: 2
Curtiss-Wright CR-2 Coupe
The Curtiss-Wright CR-2 Coupe side-by-side cockpit with unfaired landing gear, strut-braced wing monoplane began as a Curtiss-Robertson project. Two were built in 1930, N627V and N637V, the design later evolved into the CW-19L.
Engine: Wright-Gypsy, 90hp
Wingspan: 38’0″
Length: 25’0″
Useful load: 611 lb
Max speed: 110 mph
Cruse speed: 90 mph
Stall: 45 mph
Range: 450 mi
Seats: 2
Curtiss-Wright CR-1 Skeeter
Designed by Karl White and Walter Beech, the CR-1 Skeeter, open cockpit, monoplane parasol wing design is thought to be from the Snyder Buzzard Light Plane, the rights to which were purchased in July 1930 by Curtiss, although White later claimed to have actually begun a similar preliminary design long before that while working with Beech at Travel Air Co.
First flown on 5 October 1930 piloted by Lloyd Child, only one was built, N607V, considered the prototype for the 1931 CW-1 series.
Engine: ABC Scorpion, 24hp pusher
Wingspan: 39’6″
Length: 21’3″
Seats: 2
Curtiss-Wright CA-1
Designed by the British test pilot Frank Courtney, the Curtiss CA-1 (sometimes known as the Commuter or the Courtney Amphibian), was a five-seat amphibian. The CA-1 was powered by a 365 hp (272 kW) Wright 975E-1 radial, cowled and fitted into the leading edge of the top wing driving – through an extension shaft – a pusher propeller. When Wright told Courtney that this could not be done, the Briton went to a non-Curtiss-Wright mechanical workshop and successfully assembled his design.
Possessing a metal hull and wooden wings, the CA-1 had a nose wheel landing gear and an enclosed cabin for the pilot and passengers.
The three prototypes were built at the St. Louis plant, the first flying in 1935.
CA-1 (factory number 101; registration number 13298) in January 1935 received ATC No.2-397, and CA-1 (factory number 102; registration number 11780) in September received ATC 582, aircraft of this type did not go into mass production. Only three aircraft were built and they were all sold in Japan along with the project documentation, designated LXC by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
Engine: 1 × Wright 975E-1 (J-6-9), 365 hp (272 kW)
Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
Length: 31 ft 0 in (9.45 m)
Height: 3.65 m
Empty weight: 1352 kg
MTOW: 2109 kg
Maximum speed: 151 mph (243 km/h; 131 kn)
Cruise speed: 125 mph (201 km/h; 109 kn)
Stall speed: 60 mph (97 km/h; 52 kn)
Range: 550 mi (478 nmi; 885 km)
Ceiling: 4267 m
Crew: one
Capacity: four passengers
Baggage: 240 lb (110 kg)
Curtiss M / Monoplane
Built to order for Raymond V. Morriss, a Curtiss employee, the single-seat model M made its first flight in January 1914. The Tadpole was the world’s first monoplane flying boat.
Curtiss Tadpole
Curtiss built the Tadpole to test the aerodynamic relationship between the planning hull and the rigging of the wings. The first variation used a 100 hp Curtiss OX engine and came with the unequal span wings of the early F Boat, but with inset ailerons and several degrees of sweep. One of the devices tested on this aircraft was a set of moveable struts on the upper and lower wing centre sections that enabled incidence to be adjusted. If the wing were adjusted to a negative incidence while the plane was moored, it would not tend to become airborne during high winds. Continuing experiments were carried out with the Tadpole in the winter of 1914 when it was fitted with outrigger skis and flown from a frozen lake.
Curtiss-Wanamaker Triplane / Curtiss T / Curtiss Model 3
In 1915, the American businessman Rodman Wanamaker who, prior to the outbreak of the First World War commissioned the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to build a large flying boat, America to win the £10,000 prize put forward by the British newspaper Daily Mail for the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, commissioned Curtiss to build a new, even larger flying boat for transatlantic flight that became known as the Wanamaker Triplane, or Curtiss Model T, (retroactively re-designated Model 3 when Curtiss changed its designation system).
Early press reports showed a large triplane, 68 ft (17.9 metres) and with equal-span six-bay wings of 133 foot (40.5 metre) span. The aircraft, to be capable of carrying heavy armament, was estimated to have an all-up weight of 21,450 pounds (9,750 kilogrammes) and was to be powered by six 140 hp 104 kW) engines driving three propellers, two of which were to be of tractor configuration and the third a pusher.
The British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) placed an order for 20 Triplanes. The first one was completed at the Curtiss factory, Buffalo, New York in July 1916. This was the first four-engined aircraft to be built in the United States and one of the largest aircraft in the world.
The finished Model T differed from the aircraft discussed in the press in various points. Size and weight were similar, with the upper wing having a span of 134 feet, but the other wings had different spans. It was planned to be powered by four tractor 250 hp (187 kW) Curtiss V-4 engines installed individually on the middle wing, which was unusual for the time. The crew of two pilots and a flight engineer were provided with an enclosed cabin, similar to the Curtiss Model H. To reduce the forces a pilot would need to use on the controls, small windmills could be connected to the aileron cables by electrically operated clutches to act as a form of power assisted controls.
As the planned Curtiss V-4 engines were not available when the prototype, 3073, was completed, it was decided not to fly the aircraft in the United States, but to take it to England by ship where it was reassembled at the naval air station Felixstowe. Initially it was fitted with four 240 hp (180 kW) Renault engines, but these were soon exchanged for four 250 hp Rolls-Royce Eagles.
As the aircraft was damaged beyond repair on the maiden flight it was considered unsuccessful, and the order for the remaining nineteen cancelled. The Wanamaker Triplane did however, provide the inspiration for John Porte of the Seaplane Experimental Station to build a massive five-engined flying boat of similar layout, the Felixstowe Fury.
Although 20 Curtiss-Wanamaker triplanes were ordered by Britain, only one, 3073, reached the RNAS.
Engines: 4 × Renault 12F, 240 hp (180 kW) each
Upper wingspan: 134 ft (41 m)
Mid wingspan: 100 ft (30 m)
Lower wingspan: 78 ft 3 in (23.85 m)
Length: 58 ft 10 in (17.93 m)
Height: 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m)
Wing area: 2,815 sq ft (261.5 sq.m)
Empty weight: 15,645 lb (7,096 kg)
Gross weight: 22,000 lb (9,979 kg)
Maximum speed: 100 mph (161 km/h; 87 kn)
Range: 675 mi (587 nmi; 1,086 km) at cruise speed of 75 mph
Endurance: 7 hr
Time to altitude: 10 minutes to 4,000 ft (1,220 m)
Crew: 6
Engines: 4 x RR Eagle Mk1, 250 hp.
