Glenn Curtiss

Glenn Hammond Curtiss
Grande Semaine d'Aviation in France in 1909
Born	May 21, 1878 Hammondsport, New York
Died	July 23, 1930(1930-07-23) (aged 52) Buffalo, New York
Occupation	Aviator
Spouse	Lena Pearl Neff ( March 7, 1898 - until his death)
Children	2 children
Parents	Lua Andrews Frank Richmond Curtiss

Commemorative plaque; claim on the plaque is controversial regarding invention of the aileron.

Tombstone

Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was a noted American Glenn H. Curtiss motorcycle builder and racer, who built and produced engines for airships as early as 1906. In 1908, Curtiss became involved in the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), a pioneering group founded by Alexander Graham Bell to further aviation developments. His contributions in designing and building aircraft led to the formation of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. During the years leading up to World War I, his experiments with sea planes led to advances in naval aviation. Curtiss civil and military aircraft were predominant in the inter-war and World War II eras.

Birth and early career

Curtiss was born in 1878 in Hammondsport, New York to Frank Richmond Curtiss and Lua Andrews. Although he only received a formal education up to Grade 8, his early interest in mechanics and inventions was evident at his first job at the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company (later Eastman Kodak Company) in Rochester, New York.^[1] He invented a stencil machine adopted at the plant and later built a rudimentary camera to study photography.^[1] On March 7, 1898, Curtiss married Lena Pearl Neff, daughter of Guy L. Neff, in Hammondsport, NY.

Bicycles and motorcycles

Curtiss began his career as a Western Union bicycle messenger, a bicycle racer, and bicycle shop owner. In 1901 he developed an interest in motorcycles when internal combustion engines became more available. In 1902 Curtiss began manufacturing motorcycles with his own single cylinder engines. His first motorcycle's carburetor was adapted from a tomato soup can containing a gauze screen to pull the gasoline up via capillary action.^[2][3][4] In 1903 he set a motorcycle land speed record at 64 miles per hour (103 km/h) for one mile (1.6 km). When E.H. Corson of the Indian Motorcycle Company visited Hammondsport in July 1904, he was amazed that the entire Curtiss motorcycle enterprise was sited in the back room of the modest "shop". Corson's motorcycles had just been trounced the week before by "Hell Rider" Curtiss in an endurance race from New York to Cambridge, Maryland. ^[5]

In 1907, Curtiss set a world record of 136.36 miles per hour (219.45 km/h), on a 40 horsepower (30 kW) V8 powered motorcycle of his own design and construction. He would remain "the fastest man in the world," to use the title the newspapers gave him, until 1911.^[6] By this time, Curtiss' success at racing had solidified his reputation as a leading maker of high-performance motorcycles.^[7]

Aviation pioneer

Curtiss, the engine man

Glenn H. Curtiss's pilot license

In 1904, Curtiss became a supplier of engines for California "aeronaut", Tom Baldwin. In that same year, Baldwin's California Arrow, powered by a Curtiss 9 HP V-twin motorcycle engine, became the first successful dirigible in America.^[8] In 1907, Curtiss was approached by Alexander Graham Bell to provide a suitable engine for heavier-than-air flight experimentation. Bell regarded Curtiss as "the greatest motor expert in the country"^[9] and invited Curtiss to join his Aerial Experiment Association (AEA). Over the next two years the AEA produced four aircraft, each one an improvement over the last.

Aeronautics

Curtiss primarily designed the AEA's third aircraft, Aerodrome #3, the famous June Bug and became its test pilot, undertaking most of the proving flights. On July 4, 1908, he flew 5,080 feet, to win the Scientific American Trophy and its $2,500 purse.^[10] This was considered to be the first pre-announced public flight of a heavier-than-air flying machine in America. For this flight and for other achievements that were to follow, Curtiss received U.S. Pilot's license #1 from the Aero Club of America. The flight of the June Bug propelled Glenn Curtiss and aviation firmly into public awareness. At the culmination of the Aerial Experiment Association's experiments, Curtiss offered to purchase the rights to Aerodrome #3, essentially using it as the basis of his "Curtiss No.1", the first of his production series of pusher aircraft. ^[11]

Aviation competitions

In August 1909, Curtiss competed in the world's first air meet, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation flying contest at Rheims, France, organized by the Aero-Club de France. The Wrights, who were selling their machines to customers in Germany at the time, elected to not personally compete. There were two Wright aircraft at the meet but they did not win any events. Curtiss went on to win the overall speed event, flying a 10 km course at 46.5 miles per hour (74.8 km/h) in just under 16 minutes, six seconds faster than runner-up Louis Bleriot and winning the Gordon Bennett Cup. For this he was awarded French pilot's license No. 2 (Bleriot, who flew the English Channel in 1909, had been awarded license No. 1).

The pre-war years

During the 1909-1910 period, Curtiss employed a number of demonstration pilots including Eugene Ely, Charles Hamilton and Lincoln Beachey. Aerial competitions and demonstration flights across North America helped to introduce aviation to a curious public; Curtiss took full advantage of these occasions to promote his products.^[12]

This was a busy period for Glenn Curtiss in general. In May 1910, he flew from Albany to New York City to make the first long-distance flight between two major cities in the U.S. For this 137-mile flight, he won a $10,000 prize offered by publisher Joseph Pulitzer and was awarded permanent possession of the Scientific America Trophy. A month later he provided a simulated bombing demonstration to Naval officers at Hammondsport. Two months later, Lt. Jacob E. Fickel demonstrated the feasibility of shooting at targets on the ground from an aircraft with Curtiss serving as pilot. One month later, in September, he trained the first woman pilot, Blanche Stuart Scott. The fictional character Tom Swift who first appeared in 1910 in Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle and Tom Swift and His Airship has been said to have been based on Glenn Curtiss.^[13] The Tom Swift books are set in a small town on a lake in upstate New York.^[14]

Naval aviation

On November 14, 1910, Curtiss demonstration pilot Eugene Ely took off from a temporary platform mounted on the forward deck of the cruiser USS Birmingham. His successful takeoff and ensuing flight to shore marked the beginning of a relationship between Curtiss and the Navy that remained significant for decades. At the end of 1910, Curtiss established a winter encampment at San Diego to teach flying to Army and Naval personnel. It was here that he trained Lt. Theodore Ellyson, who was to become U.S. Naval Aviator #1. The original site of this winter encampment is now part of Naval Air Station North Island and is referred to by the Navy as "The Birthplace of Naval Aviation".

Through the course of that winter, Curtiss was able to develop a float (pontoon) design that would enable him to take off and land on water. Demonstrations of this advancement were of great interest to the Navy, but more significant as far as the Navy was concerned, was Eugene Ely successfully landing his Curtiss pusher (the same aircraft used to take off from the Birmingham) on a makeshift platform mounted on the rear deck of the battleship USS Pennsylvania. This was the first arrestor-cable landing on a ship and the precursor of modern day carrier operations.

Curtiss custom built floats and adapted them onto a Model D so it could take off and land on water to prove the concept. Back in Hammondsport six months later, in July 1911, Curtiss sold the U.S. Navy their first aircraft, the A-1 Triad. The A-1, which was primarily a seaplane, was equipped with retractable wheels, also making it the first amphibian. Curtiss trained the Navy's first pilots and built their first aircraft. For this he is considered in the USA to be "The Father of Naval Aviation". The A-1 was immediately recognized as so obviously useful, it was purchased by the U.S. Navy, Russia, Japan, Germany, and Britain. Curtiss won the Collier Trophy for designing this aircraft.^[15]

Around this time Curtiss met the retired English naval officer John Cyril Porte who was looking for a partner to produce an aircraft with him in order to win the Daily Mail prize for the first transatlantic crossing. In 1912 Curtiss produced the two-seat "Flying Fish", a larger craft that became classified as a flying boat because the hull sat in the water; it featured an innovative notch (known as a 'step') in the hull that Porte had recommended for breaking clear of the water at takeoff. Curtiss correctly surmised that this configuration was more suited to building a larger long-distance craft that could operate from water, and was also more stable when operating from a choppy surface. In collaboration with Porte, in 1914 Curtiss designed the "America", a larger flying boat with two engines, for the Atlantic crossing.

World War I

WIth the start of World War I Porte returned to service in the Royal Navy's Seaplane Experimental Station, which subsequently purchased several models of the America from Curtiss, now called the H-4. Porte licensed and further developed the designs, constructing a range of Felixstowe long-range patrol aircraft, and from his experience passed back improvements to the hull to Curtiss. The later British designs were sold to the U.S. forces, or built by Curtiss as the F5L. The Curtiss factory also built a total of 68 "Large Americas" which evolved into the H-12, the only American designed and American built aircraft that saw combat in World War I.

As 1916 approached, it was feared that the United States would be drawn into the conflict. The U.S. Army Air Corps ordered the development of a simple, easy to fly and maintain two-seat trainer. Curtiss created the JN-4 "Jenny" for the Army, and the N-9 seaplane version for the Navy. It is one of the most famous products of the Curtiss company, and thousands were sold to the military of the United States, Canada and Britain. Civilian and military aircraft demand was booming and this year saw their operations grow to employ 18,000 workers in Buffalo and 3,000 workers in Hammondsport.

In 1917 the U.S. Navy commissioned Curtiss to design a long-range, four-engined flying boat large enough to hold a crew of five, which became known as the NC-4.

Post World War I

Peace brought a downturn in military contracts which saw the Curtiss company shrink significantly, and Glenn Curtiss returned to his love of racing to improve product development, only this time with racing aircraft instead of motorcycles. Worldwide demand for increasingly larger seaplanes continued to be a mainstay in the Curtiss company's survival during the pre-World War II era.

Curtiss seaplanes won the Schneider Cup two consecutive races, 1923 and 1925. The 1925 race was won by U.S. Navy Lieutenant David Rittenhouse flying a Curtiss C.R.3 to 177.266 miles per hour (285.282 km/h).

Piloted by US Army Lt. Cyrus Bettis, a Curtiss R3C won the Pulitzer Trophy Race on October 12, 1925, at a speed of 248.9 miles per hour (400.6 km/h).^[16] Thirteen days later, Jimmy Doolittle won the Schnieder in the same aircraft fitted with floats. Doolittle finished first with a top speed of 232.573 miles per hour (374.290 km/h).

Patent dispute

The patent dispute with the Wright brothers continued for several years until it was resolved during World War I. Since the last Wright aircraft, the Wright Model L was a single prototype of a "scouting" aircraft, made in 1916, the U.S. government, desperately short of combat aircraft, pressured both firms to resolve the patent dispute. In 1917, the U.S. government subsequently proferred a large and profitable contract to Curtiss to build aircraft for the U.S. Army. The Wright Aeronautical Corporation, a successor to the original Wright Company, ultimately merged with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company on 5 July 1929, forming the Curtiss-Wright company, just before Glenn Curtiss' death.^[17]

Later years

Curtiss and his family moved to Florida in the 1920s, where he founded 18 corporations, served on civic commissions, donated extensive land and water rights. He helped establish the cities of Hialeah, Opa-Locka and Miami Springs, where he built a family home, known variously as the Miami Springs Villas House, Dar-Err-Aha, MSTR No. 2. or Glenn Curtiss House.^[18] His frequent hunting trips into the Florida everglades led to a final invention, the Adams Motor "Bungalo", a forerunner of the modern RV trailer (named after his business partner and half-brother, G. Carl Adams). The Glenn Curtiss House, after years of disrepair and frequent attacks by vandals, is being refurbished to serve as a museum is his honour. ^[19]

Death

After traveling to Rochester, New York to contest a law suit brought by former business partner, August Herring, Curtiss died in 1930 in Buffalo, New York. ^[18] In court, he suffered an attack of appendicitis and complications from appendix surgery set in. His funeral service was held at St. James Episcopal Church in his home town, Hammondsport, New York with internment in the family plot at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Hammondsport. Curtiss was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1964, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990, and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.^[20]

Timeline

See also

• Opa-locka Airport
• Curtiss mansion
• R. J. Mitchell - British designer of various Supermarine airplanes
• Mario Castoldi - Italian seaplane designer
• Charles M. Olmsted - Aeronautical Engineer

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Glenn H. Curtiss: Founder of the American Aviation Industry
• The Curtiss Aviation Book by Glenn Curtiss and Augustus Post
• U.S. Government Centennial of Flight - Glenn Curtiss
• A picture of the first U.S. pilot's license, issued to Glenn Curtiss
• Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY
• Works by or about Glenn Curtiss in libraries (WorldCat catalog)