P.Bowers Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 (Putnam)

Model BA (Models 13, 14)

   The BA flying-boat was a logical development of the F and K models intended to replace the F as the standard US Navy trainer flying-boat in 1918. The unusual use of a third letter in the Curtiss designation, BAT and BAP, is apparently an afterthought intended to distinguish between two configurations of the same aeroplane.
   The final form of the BA served as the prototype for the 1918 Model MF and the postwar Seagull series.

BAT (Model 13). In its original form, the BA used a 100 hp Curtiss OXX engine mounted as a tractor (T) in the style of the 1914 McCormick Boat and the two-man crew sat behind the wings. This arrangement was unsatisfactory and the aeroplane was converted to a pusher.

BAP (Model 14). With the engine now installed as a pusher (P) and the crew moved forward, the BA became a satisfactory design. A simplified hull and minor refinements in the production version resulted in the new designation of MF.