Planes and Choppers Photos

Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an aircraft pioneer as a founder-member of the Aerial Experiment Association in 1907 and eventually formed what became the world’s largest aircraft company, which however rapidly faded away after WW2. The Curtiss Aeroplane Company was set up at Hammondsport, New York, in 1910, which soon in 1916 became the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corporation. Curtiss was the father of US Naval aviation, both training pilots and supplying aircraft, particularly flying boats. In 1915 the “Jenny” appeared, which as the JN-4 trained over 95% of US wartime pilots along with many other Allied pilots. After WW1 production included airliners and racing aircraft, which transformed into a range of bombers and fighter aircraft. In 1929 the old rivals Curtiss and Wright merged to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. 1935 saw the birth of the Hawk family of stressed-skin monoplane fighters, developed into the P-40 series during WW2. Although Curtiss-Wright had become a huge empire by 1945 with major plants at Buffalo, St. Louis, Louisville, Kenmore and Columbus, post-war projects did not thrive and the company collapsed.