The

Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which the United States Department of the Navy, Navy Department faced upon the ...

TS-1 is an early

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

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 ...

of 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 ...

, serving from 1922 to 1929.

Development

While the

Vought VE-7 The Vought VE-7 "Bluebird" was an early biplane of the United States. First flying in 1917, it was designed as a two-seat trainer for the United States Army, then adopted by the United States Navy as its first fighter aircraft. In 1922, a VE-7 b ...

s were serving the Navy well in the early 1920s, they were not originally designed as fighters. The

came up with a simple design driven by a

Lawrance J-1 The Lawrance J-1 was an engine developed by Charles Lanier Lawrance and used in American aircraft in the early 1920s. It was a nine-cylinder, air-cooled radial design. Development During World War I the Lawrance Aero Engine Company of New Yor ...

air-cooled

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

. Its boxy

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was suspended between the upper and lower wings (essentially having both dorsal ''and'' ventral sets of

cabane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s), with the center area of the lower wing enlarged to accommodate a fuel tank.Lloyd S. Jones, ''U.S. Naval Fighters'' (Fallbrook CA: Aero Publishers, 1977, ), pp. 14-17 The NAF provided Curtiss with the plans to build the aircraft, and the result, designated TS-1, arrived at

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast (Washington, D.C.), Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Marion Barry Avenue (formerly Good Hope Road) SE and the neighborhood contains commercial and gover ...

on May 9, 1922. The TS-1 from Curtiss was delivered with

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

s, so the NAF also designed wooden floats to enable their use on vessels other than

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s. Testing went well, and in late 1922 the Navy ordered 34 planes from Curtiss, with the first arriving on board the aircraft carrier in December. The NAF built another five themselves, as a test of relative costs, as well as four more used to experiment with water-cooled inline engines. Two all-metal versions of the aircraft, F4C-1s, were developed by Curtiss. This aircraft made its first flight on September 4, 1924. The wings had tubular spars and stamped

duraluminum Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' . Its use as ...

ribs, and the fuselage was constructed of duraluminum tubing in a Warren truss form. Compared to the TS-1, the lower wing was raised to the base of the fuselage. The F4C-1 was armed with two machine guns and was powered by a 200 hp nine-cylinder Wright J-3 radial.

Operational history

In addition to operating from the carrier deck, the TS-1s served for several years in floatplane configuration aboard

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s, and

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s. The aircraft were slung over the side by crane or launched from capital ship catapults. Squadron VO-1 operated this way from 1922, and

VF-1 Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) was a fighter squadron of the United States Navy. Originally established on 14 October 1972 it was disestablished on 30 September 1993. It was the fifth US Navy squadron to be designated VF-1. Known as the "Wolfpack" t ...

flew its float-equipped TS-1s from battleships in 1925 and 1926."United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911" by Gordon Swanborough & Peter M. Bowers (Naval Institute Press Annapolis, MD, ) 1976, 546 pp. The TS-1 was not universally liked by its crews. Positioning of the lower wing below the fuselage resulted in short wheel struts. This, and the wheels' placement close to each other, caused considerable problems with ground looping.

Variants

;NAF TS-1: five built Curtiss TS-1 - Langley Aeronautical Laboratory

;Curtiss TS-1: 34 built ;NAF TS-2: two built,

Aeromarine The Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company was an early American aircraft manufacturer founded by Inglis M. Upperçu which operated from 1914 to 1930. From 1928 to 1930 it was known as the Aeromarine-Klemm Corporation. History The beginnings of the ...

engine ;NAF TS-3: two built,

Wright-Hispano E The Hispano-Suiza 8 is a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914 that went on to become the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hisp ...

engine

;NAF TR-2: one built, TS-3 modified by changing the airfoil section on the wings for the 1922 Curtiss Marine Trophy race ;Curtiss-Hall F4C-1:All metal versions for comparison to the original wood and wire construction; two built.

Operators

; *

** VO-1 (Spotting or Observation Plane Squadron) 1922-? **

(Fighting Squadron) 1925-1926

Surviving aircraft

* A6446 – TS-2/3 owned by the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

It was previously on display at the

National Naval Aviation Museum The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its cur ...

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

Specifications (TS-1 landplane)

References

* Melton USNR, Lt. Comdr. Dick. ''the Forty Year Hitch''. Wyandotte, Michigan: Publishers Consulting Services, 1970

External links

* Curtiss TS-1 SN: A6446 on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviatio

* Curtiss TS-1 SN: A6315 photograph in the National Museum of Naval Aviation collectio

{{USN fighters Naval Aircraft Factory aircraft, TS 1920s United States fighter aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1922 Floatplanes Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft Carrier-based aircraft TS