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The Curtiss CT-1 model 24, a twin engine
torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
mounted on floats, was first flown in 1921.
Development
The US Navy was looking for a new torpedo bomber following a demonstration of sinking a battleship with an aircraft. A specification was announced requiring a twin floatplane that could be sled launched and crane recovered at sea. The aircraft had a maximum span of which could be broken down into sections for shipboard storage. Prototypes of the Curtiss CT-1, Stout ST-1, Fokker FT-1 andBlackburn Swift F
The Blackburn Dart was a carrier-based torpedo bomber biplane designed and manufactured by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the standard single-seat torpedo bomber operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) between 1923 and 19 ...
were evaluated at the Anacostia Naval Yard. Curtiss won an initial contract to build nine torpedo bombers on June 30, 1920, but the order was canceled and only one acceptance prototype was built. The aircraft was constructed in Rockaway, New York
The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of ...
.
Design
The aircraft had twin booms,twin tail
A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...
s, twin floats and a single cockpit. A turret was placed high above and behind the pilot to have a full 360 degree firing arc. The thick airfoil wings were cantilevered without struts or wires using three spars. The fuselage was made of traditional welded tube frame with the-then new technology of an aluminum skin. The rest of the aircraft was of welded tube with a fabric covering. The engine nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
s were deeply recessed into the wings. Two under-wing Lamblin radiators provided cooling. Engine stands were located for mechanics to work on the aircraft. Single-engine operation resulted in a height loss of 100 ft per minute.
Operational history
The first water taxi tests were performed byBert Acosta
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (January 1, 1895 – September 1, 1954) was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Span ...
on 2 May 1921 at NAS Rockaway, resulting in larger rudders added for stability. The sheet metal formed motor mounts and tail structure required reinforcement. The engines overheated, and could only fly for 20 minutes at a time.
The aircraft was demonstrated to the US Navy at the Annacostia Naval Yard and at the war college at Fort McNair
Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Chan ...
, Washington, D.C. The aircraft was given the serial number A-5890, and the navy designation CT-1, for "Curtiss" "Torpedo bomber (number one)"-"variant one".
Specifications Curtiss CT-1
See also
References
;Notes * {{Curtiss aircraft 1920s United States bomber aircraft Floatplanes CT-1 Twin-boom aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1921 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft