The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June 1918. It remained in use with the US Navy until 1928, and was also widely used as a civil passenger and utility aircraft.
In late 1916, the Curtiss Aeroplane Company produced a new twin-engined flying boat, which was smaller than both the current Curtiss H-12 being built for Britain's Royal Naval Air Service and the earlier Curtiss H-4, with the new design given the factory designation Model H-14, although its design was unrelated to earlier Model H variants. The H-14 was a conventional unequal-span, unstaggered biplane, powered by two 100hp (75kW) pusherCurtiss OXX engines mounted between the wings. An order for 16 was placed by the United States Army before the prototype flew, but the prototype was disappointing and the US Army cancelled its order for H-14s.[1]
HS-1 production at Curtiss, in 1917-1918.
The prototype was converted to a single-engined aircraft powered by a 200hp (149kW) Curtiss V-X-X engine, also in a pusher configuration, during 1917, being redesignated as the Curtiss HS-1 (for H model with single engine).[1] The prototype was re-engined for use as a testbed for the new Liberty 12 engine, becoming the HS-1L, flying in this form on 21 October 1917.[2]
While Curtiss's V-X-X engine proved to be inadequate, as it did in its larger Model H cousins, the Liberty proved more suitable, and large orders were placed by the US Navy for the HS-1L.[2] The HS-1 was armed with two 180lb (80kg) depth bombs, but it was found that these bombs were too small. In order to carry more powerful 230lb (100kg) bombs, Curtiss produced an increased-span version, the HS-2 with span increased by 12ft (3.66m) and an additional set of interplane struts, giving four-bay wings rather than the three-bay wings of the HS-1L.[3] Again, Curtiss specified one of their own engines, and again, the Navy substituted this with the Liberty engine in the definitive HS-2L.[citation needed]
The HS-3 was a further improved version with a new, wider hull flat-sided hull, that eliminated the typical Curtiss sponsons. The end of the war brought an end to plans to mass-produce this version, only six being built.[4][5]
The HS-1L and -2L were built in vast quantities: 675 by Curtiss themselves, and nearly as many again by various contractors that included L-W-F (250), Standard (80), Gallaudet Aircraft Company (60), Boeing (25) and Loughead (2). A further 25 were assembled by the US Navy from spare parts postwar.[6]
Operational history
The HS-1L began to enter service early in 1918, flying anti-submarine patrols from a number of Naval Air Stations on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and from the Panama Canal Zone. Two HS-1Ls operating from Chatham, Massachusetts, made the only confirmed aircraft attack on a German U-boat in American waters on July 21, 1918, but this was unsuccessful, with bombs failing to explode and the submarine escaping.[7] From August 1918, in order to compensate for Canada's lack of patrol aircraft, US Navy HSs operated from two bases in Nova Scotia. Twelve HS-2Ls were donated to Canada at the end of the war.[7][8]
Large numbers of HS boats were also used by US Navy forces in France, with deliveries starting on May 24, 1918, flying their first patrols on June 13. About 160 HS-1Ls and -2Ls were deployed to France.[9][10] Following the Armistice, the HS boats based in Europe were scrapped apart from four aircraft based in the Azores, which were acquired by Portugal, while the US Naval Air Service shrank considerably, with many Naval Air Stations closing, resulting in considerable numbers of HS boats becoming surplus to requirements and available for sale at $200 to $500 without engines.[11] HS-2Ls continued in use by the US Navy as a patrol aircraft and a trainer until 1928.[12]
Following the Armistice, eleven HSs passed into US Coast Guard service, remaining in service until 1926.[13][14] As many as 83 HS boats were used by the United States Army Air Service for communications and survey purposes from overseas bases, although they were not given US Army serial numbers.[13]
Surplus HSs were also widely exported. Amongst Military users was Brazil, who received six aircraft in 1918.[15] Two HS-2Ls were used in an attempt to bomb the rebel held Forte de Copacabana during the 1922 Tenente revolt.[12] Many were used in Canada as the first bush plane. One survives in the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa after being rescued from a Quebec lake.[16]
Canadian Air Force - obtained HS-2L beginning in 1920.[20] 12 likely transferred from Air Board when it disbanded and in total operated 30. All retired in 1928.
Portuguese Naval Aviation - took over four ex-US Navy HS boats based in the Azores after the end of World War I, using them for training.[12] Retired 1931.
Grant, Robert S. (May–July 1993). "No Rope or Railing: Canada's Curtiss HS-2Ls". Air Enthusiast. No.50. pp.73–77. ISSN0143-5450.
Hagedorn, Dan (March–May 1992). "Curtiss Types in Latin America". Air Enthusiast. No.45. pp.61–77. ISSN0143-5450.
Owers, Colin A. (July–August 1999). "HS 'Boats: Curtiss HS Flying Boats". Air Enthusiast. No.82. pp.64–75. ISSN0143-5450.
Swanborough, Gordon; Bowers, Peter M. (1976). United States Navy Aircraft since 1911 (Seconded.). London: Putnam. ISBN0-370-10054-9.
Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p.281.
Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1919. London: Sampson Lowe Marston. pp.452a.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Curtiss HS.
"The U.S. Navy HS-1L and HS-2L Flying-Boats"(PDF). Flight. Vol.XI, no.49. December 4, 1919. pp.1550–1552. No. 571. Retrieved January 13, 2011. Contemporary technical description of the HS-1L and HS-2L with photographs and drawings.
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the 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 for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civilian aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
The Martin P5M Marlin, built by the Glenn L. Martin Company of Middle River, Maryland, was a twin piston-engined flying boat that entered service in 1951, and served into the late 1960s with the United States Navy performing naval patrols. It also served with the United States Coast Guard and the French Navy. 285 were produced.
The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few survivors are extant.
The Curtiss NC was a flying boat built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and used by the United States Navy from 1918 through the early 1920s. Ten of these aircraft were built, the most famous of which is the NC-4, the first airplane to make a transatlantic flight. The NC-4 is preserved in the National Museum of Naval Aviation, at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
The Curtiss SOC Seagull was an American single-engined scout observation seaplane, designed by Alexander Solla of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation for the United States Navy. The aircraft served on battleships and cruisers in a seaplane configuration, being launched by catapult and recovered from a sea landing. The wings folded back against the fuselage for storage aboard ship. When based ashore or on carriers the single float was replaced by fixed wheeled landing gear.
The twin-engine F5L was one of the Felixstowe F series of flying boats developed by John Cyril Porte at the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe, England, during the First World War for production in America.
The Curtiss Model N was a military trainer used primarily by the United States Navy during World War I.
The Felixstowe F.2 was a 1917 British flying boat class designed and developed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air station, Felixstowe during the First World War adapting a larger version of his superior Felixstowe F.1 hull design married with the larger Curtiss H-12 flying boat. The Felixstowe hull had superior water contacting attributes and became a key base technology in most seaplane designs thereafter.
The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe.
The Curtiss 18T, unofficially known as the Wasp and by the United States Navy as the Kirkham, was an early American triplane fighter aircraft designed by Curtiss for the US Navy.
The Curtiss Models F made up a family of early flying boats developed in the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Widely produced, Model Fs saw service with the United States Navy under the designations C-2 through C-5, later reclassified to AB-2 through AB-5. Several examples were exported to Russia, and the type was built under license in Italy.
The Curtiss Model H was a family of classes of early long-range flying boats, the first two of which were developed directly on commission in the United States in response to the £10,000 prize challenge issued in 1913 by the London newspaper, the Daily Mail, for the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic. As the first aircraft having transatlantic range and cargo-carrying capacity, it became the grandfather development leading to early international commercial air travel, and by extension, to the modern world of commercial aviation. The last widely produced class, the Model H-12, was retrospectively designated Model 6 by Curtiss' company in the 1930s, and various classes have variants with suffixed letters indicating differences.
The Norman Thompson N.T.4 was a twin-engined British flying boat of the First World War. Although less well known than similar Curtiss and Felixstowe flying boats, 50 were ordered for Britain's Royal Naval Air Service.
The Naval Aircraft Factory PN was a series of open cockpit American flying boats of the 1920s and 1930s. A development of the Felixstowe F5L flying boat of the First World War, variants of the PN were built for the United States Navy by Douglas, Keystone and Martin.
The Curtiss Model R was a utility aircraft produced for the United States Army and Navy during World War I. It was a conventional, two-bay biplane with slightly staggered wings of unequal span. The aircraft was provided with two open cockpits in tandem and fixed tailskid undercarriage, but many were built for the Navy with twin floats replacing the wheels. During the course of the war, Model Rs were used for general liaison and communication duties, as well for observation, training, and as air ambulances. In practice, the Curtiss powerplants supplied with these aircraft proved insufficient and were mostly replaced with Liberty engines. The Navy's Model R-3 floatplane had extended-span, three-bay wings, and was intended for use as a torpedo bomber. Some of these were later fitted with wheeled undercarriage and transferred to the Army as bombers under the designation Model R-9.
The Naval Aircraft Factory PT were two types of floatplanes built from surplus and spare parts by the United States Navy's Naval Aircraft Factory.
The Curtiss C-1 Canada was a twin-engined bomber aircraft of the First World War which was designed by Curtiss of America to be built by their Canadian subsidiary for the British Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps. Although large orders were placed, only twelve were built, the type being rejected in favour of more capable aircraft such as the Handley Page O/100.
The Wanamaker Triplane or Curtiss Model T, retroactively renamed Curtiss Model 3 was a large experimental four-engined triplane patrol flying boat of World War I. It was the first four-engined aircraft built in the United States. Only a single example (No.3073) was completed. At the time, the Triplane was the largest seaplane in the world.
The Vought XSO2U was an American observation floatplane developed by Vought-Sikorsky for the United States Navy during the late 1930s. Intended to replace the Curtiss SOC Seagull in service as a scout aboard cruisers, it proved superior to the Curtiss SO3C in evaluation, but failed to win a production contract due to Vought's lack of manufacturing capacity.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
