The Curtiss 18T, unofficially known as the Wasp and by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as the Kirkham, was an early

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard (aeronautics), canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The trip ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

designed by Curtiss for the US Navy. It was redesignated Curtiss Model 15 in Curtiss's later rationalization of their model numbering.

Design and development

The Curtiss 18T was intended to protect bombing aircraft over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and a primary requisite for this job was speed. Speed was not the triplane's only salient feature: an 18T-2 set a new

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

record in 1919 of . The streamlined and very "clean" fuselage contributed to the aircraft's performance. The basic construction was based on cross-laminated strips of wood veneer formed on a mold and attached to the inner structure. The technique was a refinement of that used on the big Curtiss flying boats."Curtiss # to J."
''aerofiles.com.'' Retrieved: 13 January 2011.

Operational history

Flown by Roland Rholfs, the 18T achieved a world speed record of in August 1918 carrying a full military load of . The Model 18T-2 was an improved version of its predecessor, with 50 additional

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

. The wings of the new model were swept back. It was also longer with a larger two-bay wing, though its operational ceiling was lower. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, it was employed as a racing plane: an 18T-2 nearly won the Curtiss Marine Trophy Race in 1922 (limited to U.S. Navy pilots), but the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, Lt. Sanderson ran out of

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

just before the finish line. Curtiss Engineering followed the Model 18T with the Model 18B, unofficially known as the "Hornet", built to otherwise similar specifications. Curtiss 18T-1

Variants

;Model 18T or 18T-1: Two-seat fighter

with single-bay wings, powered by a Curtiss K-12 piston engine. Referred to by the US Navy as the "Kirkham". Originally designated 18T, the type was redesignated the 18T-1 when the prototype was modified to a new configuration designated 18T-2 (see below). ;Model 18T-2: 18T with longer-span two-bay wings. Could be fitted with floatplane or landplane landing gear. ;Model 18B: Biplane fighter version, known unofficially as the "Hornet". Sole flying prototype of Curtiss 18B, USAAS ''40058'', 'P-86', crashed early in flight trials at

McCook Field McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and its successor the United States Army Air Service from 1917 to 1927. It was named f ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, summer 1919. Type not ordered into production. One non-flying prototype also delivered for static testing.Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon, "Fighter A To Z", ''Air International'', Bromley, Kent, UK, February 1976, Volume 10, Number 2, page 98. Redesignated Model 15A

Operators

; *

Specifications (18T-1 Wasp)

Notes

Bibliography

* Angelucci, Enzo and Peter Bowers. ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft from 1917 to the Present''. New York: Orion Books, 1985. . * Bowers, Peter M. ''Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947''. London: Putnam, 1979. .
"The Curtiss Model 18-T Triplane."
''

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

'', Volume XI, Issue 22, No. 544, 29 May 1919, pp. 698–700.
"The Curtiss Model 18-B Biplane."
Volume XI, Issue 28, No. 550, 10 July 1919, pp. 902–904. * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters.'' New York: Salamander, 1994. . *

External links

{{Curtiss aircraft 1910s United States fighter aircraft 18 Triplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1918 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear