Warplanes of the USA: Ohio, Dayton, National Museum of the USAF: Curtiss aircraft
Warplane Survivors USA: Ohio, Dayton, National Museum of the USAF: Curtiss
(NMUSAF Photos)
Curtiss 1911 Model D. In 1911 the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased its second airplane, a Curtiss Model D Type IV. The military version of the Curtiss Model D could be easily disassembled and transported on Army wagons. Like other Curtiss aircraft of the time, the Model D was a pusher, meaning the rear-mounted propeller "pushed" the aircraft. Designated Signal Corps Airplane No. 2, it was accepted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on 27 April 1911, one of five airplanes ordered by the Army that year. The control system for the Curtiss Model D operated differently than that used on Signal Corps No. 1, a Wright aircraft. A pilot flying the Curtiss operated the ailerons with his shoulders, and the front elevator and rear rudder with the wheel mounted on a column in front of him. Also, rather than sitting next to the pilot, the observer sat behind the pilot. The Signal Corps scrapped the original aircraft, so museum personnel constructed the reproduction on display, completing it in 1987. They relied heavily on measurements scaled from early photographs of the original Signal Corps No. 2, because the original drawings and adequate written descriptions were not available. Additional details were gathered from an existing factory-built Curtiss pusher and from recent drawings. Except for the engine, which is made of wood and plastic, all materials used in the reproduction are essentially the same as those used in the original.
(Greg Hume Photo)
(NMUSAF Photo)
Curtiss JN-4D Jenny (Serial No. 2805).
(NMUSAF Photos)
(Valder137 Photos)
(Martin McGuire Photo)
Curtiss P-6E Hawk (Serial No. 32-0261), painted as (Serial No. 32-0240). The NMUSAF's Hawkt is the only original P-6E still in existence. The P-6E is painted in the colours and markings of the airplane assigned to Captain Ross G. Hoyt, Commanding Officer of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, based at Selfridge Field, Michigan in 1933. Edward S. Perkins of Anniston, Alabama, donated it to the museum, and the Department of Aviation Technology at Purdue University restored it in 1963.
(NMUSAF Photos)
(Martin McGuire Photo)
Curtiss P-36A Hawk (Serial No. 38-0001), 69, C/N 12415. The P-36A on display in the NMUSAF was the first P-36A delivered to the US Army Air Corps (USAAC). It was donated by Edward S. Perkins of Anniston, Alabama, in April 1959. It is painted to represent the P-36A flown by Lt. Philip Rasmussen during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec 1941.
(USAAC Photo)
(Bill Larkins Photo)
Curtiss A-12 Shrike (Serial No. 42-80449). The A-12 Shrike was the USAAC's second monoplane ground-attack aircraft, and its main attack aircraft through most of the 1930s. A-12s served with the 3rd Attack Group plus the 8th and 18th Pursuit Groups. Surviving Shrikes were grounded just after the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor in December 1941.
(USAAC Photo)
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk in flight.
(NMUSAF Photos)
Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk Mk. 1A, ex-RAF (Serial No. AK987), ex-RCAF (Serial No. 1068), USAAF (Serial No. 42-65406), 104, C/N 18731. The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF is a Kittyhawk (the export version of the P-40E, built for the RAF). It is painted to represent the aircraft flown by then Colonel Bruce Holloway, a pilot in both the Flying Tigers and its successor Army Air Forces unit, the 23rd Fighter Group. This P-40 was obtained from Charles Doyle, Rosemount, Minnisota.
(NMUSAF Photos)
Curtiss O-52 Owl (Serial No. 40-2763).
(NMUSAF Photos)
Curtiss C-46D Commando (Serial No. 44-78018), C/N 33414. The C-46D on display in the NMUSAF is painted as a C-46 flying the Hump in 1944. This aircraft was retired from USAF service in Panama in 1968 and was flown to the museum in 1972.
(NMUSAF Photos)
Curtiss Wright AT-9A Fledgling (Jeep) (Serial No. 41-12150), built 1942-1943. The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was not complete when the museum acquired it. Some of the parts used to restore it were taken from another incomplete AT-9, while other parts had to be built from "scratch" by museum restoration specialists.
(JFK Presidential Library and Museum Photo)
(Valder137 Photo)
Curtiss Wright X-19.
