Canadian Warplanes 1: Curtiss C-1 Canada

Curtiss C-1 Canada bomber

(IWM Photo, Q 33818)

The Curtiss C-1 Canada was a twin-enginedbomber aircraft of the First World War which was designed by Curtiss of Americato be built by their Canadian subsidiary for the British Royal Naval AirService and Royal Flying Corps. Although large orders were placed, only twelvewere built, the type being rejected in favour of more capable aircraft such asthe Handley Page O/100.

In 1915, Curtiss designed a twin-engined landplane bomber based on its CurtissModel H flying boat that had been designed for an attempt to fly across theAtlantic Ocean non-stop, and was in production for Britains's Royal Naval AirService (RNAS). The RNAS was interested in Curtiss's design, and placed anorder for a single prototype. As Curtiss's Hammondsport and Buffalo, New Yorkfactories were busy building JN trainers and H-4 flying boats, it was decidedto give responsibility for the new bomber, the C-1, to Curtiss's new Canadiansubsidiary, Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd., based at Toronto, giving rise to the nameCurtiss Canada.

The Canada used the unequal span biplane wings and 160 hp (120 kW) Curtiss V-Xengines of the H-4 flying boat, but the rest of the design was new. Thefuselage was a long nacelle attached to the lower wing, with two gunnerssitting side-by-side in an open cockpit in the nose of the nacelle, with thepilot sitting alone in a separate cockpit at the rear of the nacelle, behindthe wings. The tail surfaces, with had a single vertical fin, were carried ontwin tailbooms extending from the rear of the engine nacelles, with a third,lower, tailboom from the rear of the fuselage nacelle. It had a conventionallanding gear with twin, tandem mainwheels and a tailskid. An early form ofautopilot, the Sperry stabilizer, was fitted to improve stability for bombing.

Construction of the prototype started in May 1915, and was first flown on 3September 1915, powered by two 90 hp (67 kW) Curtiss OX-5 engines as theplanned V-Xs were unavailable.[3] Further orders were placed for 100 productionaircraft for the RNAS, and another prototype and ten production aircraft forthe Royal Flying Corps.

The first Curtiss Canada was delivered by ship to Britain in late 1915, beingreassembled at Farnborough for the RFC, flying again in January 1916. It wasdamaged in a crash in February, being rebuilt with modified wings. When testedin April, its performance proved to be poor. While the ten production aircraftfor the RFC were delivered un-assembled to Farnborough by July that year, theRFC had abandoned the Canada, and these aircraft were never re-assembled. TheRNAS received one prototype, cancelling its orders as the greatly superiorHandley Page O/100 was coming into service. (Wikipedia)