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Страна: США

Год: 1912

P.Bowers Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 (Putnam)

Other Experimental Flying-boats

   Several other flying-boats were built immediately after No.2 to try different hull designs, engine positions and other features. They carried no known designations and their constant modifications have complicated the identification problem. Three are described here.

Freak Boat/C-1/AB-1. Identified only as 'Freak Boat' in later Curtiss photographic records, this 'boat had a full-length hull but the pilots were in the open as on the standard hydro. The close gap of the equal-span wings lowered the upper wing to the top of the pusher engine. The horizontal tail was mounted on struts above the hull and the square rudder was used without a vertical fin.
   After extensive modification that included entirely new tail surfaces and shorter unequal-span wings, this 'boat was sold to the Navy in November 1912, and designated C-1. In March 1914, the designation was changed to AB-1. As C-1, it made the first successful catapult launch of a flying-boat on 12 December, 1912, at Washington Navy Yard. Its last flight was on 1 April, 1914.

Tadpole. Identified only as Tadpole, this flying-boat is representative of several that had their hulls built in the form of elongated main hydro floats with the area between the top of the float and the wings built up with a light fabric-covered superstructure. On Tadpole, the tail surfaces were carried above the hull on struts. The wing assembly pivoted about the rear spar to provide a variable-incidence feature; the pusher engine was stabilized by a tie rod between the end of the propeller shaft and the tail surfaces.

A-2/OWL/E-1/AX-1. The A-2 was the Navy's second aeroplane, a Curtiss Model E delivered as a landplane on 13 July, 1911. The original engine was a four-cylinder 50 hp model, soon changed to a 60 hp V-8.
   The A-2 was converted to a seaplane in June 1912. It was further modified at Hammondsport in October 1912 to enclose the crew in a fabric-covered superstructure between the float and the wings, eliminating the interchangeability feature and making the A-2 a short-hull flying-boat. Further experimentation added retractable wheels to give amphibian capability; the unofficial designation of OWL was applied to signify operation 'over water and land'. The Navy designation was changed to E-1 in September 1913 and finally to AX-1 in March 1914. It was wrecked on 27 November, 1915, after 91 flights.
   Testing of the experimental flying-boats of 1912 soon resulted in a marketable design. The earliest production versions, which were undesignated, had hulls with strong lower structure and a light upper superstructure filling the underwing gap and enclosing the two-man crew. Wings, with interplane ailerons, were sometimes of equal span and sometimes had extended upper wingtips. The design culminated in the Model F, which was immediately popular and enjoyed wide sale to private owners in the United States and to foreign governments.

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Описание:

  • P.Bowers Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 (Putnam)
  • G.Swanborough, P.Bowers United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Putnam)