Curtiss Model J
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=Curtiss Model J | image=Curtiss J Tractor.jpg | caption= Curtiss J Tractor, Signal Corps No. 30, Rockwell Field, California }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Biplane | national origin=United States of America | manufacturer=Curtiss Aeroplane Company | designer=Benjamin D. Thomas | first flight=12 March 1914 | introduced=1914 | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=2 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Curtiss Model J (along with the Curtiss Model N) was a prototype tractor configuration aircraft that became the basis for the Curtiss Jenny series of aircraft.
Development
The Curtiss J was designed by Benjamin D. Thomas. Glenn Curtiss hired Thomas from the Sopwith Aviation Company while on a trip to London, England. He started designing the Model J while overseas, and is also credited with helping design the Model N and the Model H "America".{{cite book|title=Curtiss aircraft, 1907-1947|author=Peter M. Bowers}}{{cite book|title=The Pictorial History of American Aircraft|author=Bill Yenne}} The first flight tests were performed without fuselage covering.{{cite book|title=Aircraft in profile, Volume 2|publisher=Doubleday}} In February 1914, after a series of accidents with pusher aircraft, the U.S. Army held a meeting in San Diego expressing interest in tractor design aircraft such as the Model J{{cite book|title=One hundred years of world military aircraft|url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_v6d0|url-access=registration|author1=Norman Polmar |author2=Dana Bell |year=2004 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=9781591146865 }}{{Cite book|title=The United States Air Force: A Chronology|author=John C. Fredriksen}}
Design
The Model J had the engine mounted on the nose of the aircraft with a tractor propeller and was covered with clear doped linen or cotton, with tandem seating and conventional landing gear with a tailskid.{{cite book|title=All the U.S. Air Force airplanes, 1907-1983|author=Andrew W. Waters}} The biplane wings were built without dihedral and the upper wing was considerably greater in span than the lower and fitted with ailerons.{{cite book|title=Military aeroplanes: an explanatory consideration of their characteristics|author=Grover Cleveland Loeing}} The Curtiss Model J S.C. No. 30 became the testing prototype for the JN, earning the title as the first "Jenny".
Operational history
The first prototype was rolled out on 12 March 1914. It was delivered to the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps on 28 July. At the time the entire United States military air fleet consisted of 23 aircraft.{{cite book|title=The United States Army Air Arm, April 1861 to April 1917, Air Force Historical Study No. 98.|author=Air Force History Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama}}
- 1914 In September, pilot Lewis E. Goodier, Jr. achieved a record climb rate for an aircraft of 1000 ft per minute. Later that month the Model J would become the fastest aircraft in America with a recorded speed of 85.7 mph {{cite book|title=The Illustrated encyclopedia of aviation, Volume 6|author=Anthony Robinson}}
1914 October 8, SN30 flown by Capt. H. Le R. Muller reached a record altitude of 17,441 ft {{cite book|title=The International military digest annual, Volume 2|author=Cornélis De Witt Willcox}}
- 1915 Both model J aircraft crashed in testing.
Variants
- A Model J was demonstrated with floats in 1915 at Keuka Lake{{cite book|title=Aircraft yearbook|author=Aerospace Industries Association of America}}
- Curtiss J-2 - A smaller design of the Model J, cancelled.
- Curtiss Model N - The first prototype was built off a Model J modified in Hammondsport, New York.{{cite journal|journal=Flying |volume=62–63}}
Specifications (Curtiss Model J)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947Bowers 1979, p. 65.
|prime units?=imp
|genhide=
|crew=two
|capacity=
|length m=
|length ft=26
|length in=4
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|span ft=40
|span in=2
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|height m=
|height ft=
|height in=
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=340
|wing area note=
|swept area sqm=
|swept area sqft=
|swept area note=
|volume m3=
|volume ft3=
|volume note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=1075
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=1635
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|lift kg=
|lift lb=
|lift note=
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Curtiss OX-2
|eng1 type=
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=90
|eng1 note=
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=70
|max speed kts=
|max speed note=
|max speed mach=
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|range km=
|range miles=
|range nmi=
|range note=
|endurance=4 hr
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|glide ratio=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=10 min to 3,000 ft (915 m)
|more performance=
|avionics=
}}
See also
References
{{commons category|Curtiss Model J}}
;Notes
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
- Bowers, Peter M. Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947. London:Putnam, 1979. {{ISBN|0-370-10029-8}}.
- {{cite journal |title=The Curtiss Tractor Biplanes |journal=Flight |date=11 December 1914 |volume=VI |issue=50 |pages=1191–1192 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1914/1914%20-%201191.html}} (Describes both the Model J and the Model N.)
- {{cite journal |title=Curtiss Model 'J' Tractor Biplane |journal=Aeronautics |date=15 September 1914 |volume=XV |issue=5 |page=69 |hdl=2027/chi.105942614?urlappend=%3Bseq=197 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.105942614?urlappend=%3Bseq=197}}
- {{cite journal |title=Remarkable Demonstration of the Curtiss Military Tractors |journal=Flying |date=October 1914 |volume=III |issue=9 |page=264 |hdl=2027/nyp.33433057647749?urlappend=%3Bseq=238 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433057647749?urlappend=%3Bseq=238}}
{{refend}}
{{Curtiss aircraft}}
Category:1910s United States experimental aircraft
Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft