The Curtiss Model J (along with the Curtiss Model N) was a prototype

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

aircraft that became the basis for the

Curtiss Jenny The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft ...

series of aircraft.

Development

The Curtiss J was designed by Benjamin D. Thomas.

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

hired Thomas from the

Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during the First World War, most famously ...

while on a trip to

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He started designing the Model J while overseas, and is also credited with helping design the Model N and the Model H "America". The first flight tests were performed without fuselage covering. 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

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. The biplane wings were built without dihedral and the upper wing was considerably greater in span than the lower and fitted with ailerons. 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 The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the aerial warfare service of the United States from 1914 to 1918, and a direct statutory ancestor of the United States Air Force. It absorbed and replaced the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps, Aer ...

on 28 July. At the time the entire United States military air fleet consisted of 23 aircraft. *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 1914 October 8, SN30 flown by Capt. H. Le R. Muller reached a record altitude of 17,441 ft *1915 Both model J aircraft crashed in testing.

Variants

* A Model J was demonstrated with floats in 1915 at Keuka Lake * 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.

Specifications (Curtiss Model J)

References