Curtiss Aircraft Engines Collection
Curtiss Aircraft List
1910 Curtiss Pusher
Year: 1910*
Donated by Terry Brandt
This project has been restored thanks to a generous grant from the Ludwick Family Foundation, the donation of dope and fabric from Consolidated Aircraft Coatings, and donations from museum visitors.
(* Please note that parts of this airplane date back to 1910 according to Mr. Parker's family. Upon restoration other parts of the airplane could be identified as 1912, 1914, and other areas date to the 1920s. It did not get any sort of official paperwork by what became the FAA until 1934. More confusion about the date of this airplane also is a direct result from the painted letters on the tail - the top coat had 1910 as the date but upon removal another set of paint identified the plane as 1912. There is a possibility that both dates are the result of Hollywood-style tampering for old movies.)
1917 Curtiss JN-4D
Year: 1917
Donation: Terry Brandt
Engine: Curtiss OX-5, 90 HP
Designed by Glenn Curtiss and B. Douglas Thomas, the Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” was the trainer of choice in both the US and England during World War I. Over 9,000 Jennys (including 2,700 JN-4D) were built by six companies and it’s estimated that 95% of American and British WWI pilots received training in the Jenny. One version of the Jenny was used by General Pershing in 1916 to pursue Pancho Villa after he’d attacked the U.S. 13th Cavalry at Camp Furlong, New Mexico. When WWI ended the Curtiss Airplane Company bought back large numbers of Jennys, refurbished them and resold them in the civilian market. Many pilots used their Army training to introduce America to flight by “barnstorming” or flying from town to town to show off with acrobatics and wingwalking and to sell rides. The first scheduled air mail flights in the USA in 1918 used Jennys.
Additional Specifications:
Cruise: 60 MPH
Top Speed: 75 MPH
Empty Weight: 1430 lbs
Gross Weight: 1920 lbs
Wing Span: 43'7.75"
Length: 27'4"
Height: 9'10.5"
Service Ceiling: 6,500'
Climb in 1 Minute: 200' at sea level
Approximate Number Built: 2,700+
1929 Curtiss Robertson Robin B
Donation: Terry Brandt
Engine: Curtiss OX-5, 90 HP
Designed and first flown in 1928 by Curtiss Aircraft, this airplane was produced by the joint venture of Curtiss-Robertson in Anglum (St. Louis) Missouri. The Robin was one of the earliest airplanes to seat the pilot inside a cabin. It was also built with other engines including the 6-cylinder Curtiss Challenger radial and the 5-cylinder Wright J-6-5 radial. Many noteworthy flights were made with versions of the Robin including Red Jackson’s 400 consecutive rolls in 1929, the Key Brothers’ record endurance flight of more than 27 days in June 1935 and Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan’s Atlantic Ocean crossing in 1938. WAAAM's Robin is nicknamed the Blueprint Robin because it was never modified as so many of them were.
Additional Specifications:
Cruise: 84 MPH
Top Speed: 99 MPH
Empty Weight: 1489 lbs
Gross Weight: 2217 lbs
Wing Span: 41'
Length: 25'10"
Height: 7'10"
Service Ceiling: 10,200'
Climb in 1 Minute: 420' at sea level
Approximate Number Built: 750
(Data pulled from Joseph Juptner's U.S. Civil Aircraft series.)
1947 Curtiss 1912 Headless Pusher Replica
Donation: Terry Brandt
Engine: Continental A-85, 85 HP
Northwest Airlines Chief Pilot Walter Bullock learned to fly in 1916 in a Curtiss Pusher. Nearing retirement in the mid-1940s, Bullock wanted to fly a Pusher once again but when he couldn't find an original airplane to restore, he built this replica (in 1947) which has reenacted a number of historic flights. In 1959 Peter M. Bowers repeated Glenn Curtiss' 1910 Hudson River flight (Albany-to-New York City, ~150 miles). WAAAM Director of Restorations Tom Murphy has reenacted two historic flights, both first made in the Northwest in 1912. In 1992 he reprised Walter Edwards' airmail flight from Oregon to Washington and in 1995 he reprised Silas Christofferson's Multnomah Hotel Flight, taking off from a platform built on the eight-story hotel's roof. The original and reenactment flights all landed at the Vancouver Barracks, now Pearson Field.