Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947

Ref: 5112

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{detailed description}This important book is a complete history of the pioneer work of Glenn Curtiss and of the subsequent companies which bore his name.
Glenn Curtiss was involved in some of the earliest practical flying experiments with gliders and powered aircraft. Before the First World War he had built the America flying-boat, which was sold to Britain and led to the Royal Naval Air Service's family of Felixstowe patrol flying-boats. It was a Navy/Curtiss flying-boat, the NC-4, which, in May 1919, made the first-ever aerial crossing of the North Atlantic.
Many thousands of First World War pilots learned to fly on the Curtiss J N Jenny, and this famous aircraft was to live on for many years, mainly in the hands of the barnstormers — the men who toured the United States giving flying exhibitions and joyrides.
Through the 1920s and 1930s such military types as Hawks, Falcons, Shrikes and Helldivers achieved worldwide reputations. For the civil market there was the Robin light aircraft and for the airlines the Condor sleeper transport. Curtiss built some beautiful racing biplanes and on two occasions, as seaplanes, these won Schneider Trophy races.
During the Second World War Curtiss aircraft were used by US, British, French and other services. There was a range of single-seat fighters including the P-36, Tomahawk and Kittyhawk; there were naval types such as the S B C and S B2C Helldivers, the Seagull, Seamew and Seahawk; there were large numbers of C-46 Commando transports, many of them still flying; and there was the little-known C-76 all-wood Caravan.
All these aircraft and many others, including projects and prototypes, are described and illustrated with a large number of photographs and general-arrangement drawings.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Peter M. Bowers
1979 1st edition. 636pp
{condition}very good in price clipped and slightly faded d/j.
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