Glenn Curtiss

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Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an aviation pioneer and founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Contents 1 Birth and early career 2 Wright brothers 3 Competition 4 The other Pulitzer prize 5 Patent dispute 6 Death 7 Timeline 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Birth and early career

He was born in 1878 in Hammondsport, New York to Frank Richmond Curtiss and Lua Andrews. Curtiss married Lena Pearl Neff, daughter of Guy L. Neff, in Logansport, Indiana on March 7, 1898.

Curtiss began his career as a bicycle racer, Western Union bicycle messenger, and bicycle shop owner. He developed an interest in motorcycles when internal combustion engines became more available. He began manufacturing motor-bicycles with his own single cylinder internal combustion engines, the first with a tomato can for a carburetor. In 1903 he set a world speed record by averaging 64 mph (103 km/h) for one mile (1.6 km). In 1907 he set a new record of 136.36 mph (219.31 km/h), (without brakes!) on a 40-hp V8 powered motorcyle of his own design. At this time he was America's No. 1 maker of high-performance motorcycles.

[edit] Wright brothers

In August 1906, on a journey with Tom Baldwin in his airship to Dayton, Ohio, Curtiss visited the Wright brothers (after they'd help corral their airship) and discussed aeronautical motors and their propellers, a subject of mutual interest. Because Curtiss made America's finest lightweight motors, Alexander Graham Bell persuaded him to join his Aerial Experiment Association in 1907 to build aircraft, succeeding with America's first "official" airplane flight on July 4, 1908, in AEA June Bug. The construction of this and later planes would involve Curtiss in patent lawsuits with the Wrights which Curtiss would lose in 1913. He became the first person to receive an air pilot license from the Aero Club of America.

[edit] Competition

In August 1909, Curtiss competed in the world's first air meet, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation flying contest at Reims, France, organised by the Aero-Club de France. The Wrights, who had sold their machines in Berlin at the time, did not compete, nevertheless sued Curtiss, alleging their patent was being infringed. He continued, completing a 10 km course at 46.5 mph (75 km/h) in just under 16 minutes, 6 seconds faster than runner-up Louis Bleriot and won the Gordon Bennett Cup. For this he became, after Bleriot, the No. 2 pilot in Europe (Wrights Nos. 14 and 15).

[edit] The other Pulitzer prize

On May 29, 1910, Curtiss flew from Albany, New York, along the Hudson River, to New York City, to win a $10,000 prize backed by publisher Joseph Pulitzer. He covered 137 miles (220 km) in 153 minutes, averaging nearly 55 mph (89 km/h), then flew over Manhattan Island and circled the Statue of Liberty. Curtiss received the first U.S. pilot's license in 1911 (the Wrights were Nos. 4 and 5).

[edit] Patent dispute

The patent dispute with the Wright brothers continued for several years until it was resolved during World War I, just after Wright ceased making airplanes following Orville's withdrawal from the business and the company's shift to manufacturing only engines. The last Wright airplane was a single copy, made in 1916. With the involvement of the US in World War I in 1917, the U.S. government gave a contract to Curtiss to build airplanes for the US Army.

[edit] Death

He died in 1930 in Buffalo, New York, from complications after appendix surgery, and was buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Hammondsport, New York. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990.

[edit] Timeline

[edit] See also

• Opa-locka Airport
• Curtiss mansion
• R. J. Mitchell - British designer of various Supermarine airplanes
• Mario Castoldi - Italian seaplane designer

[edit] References

• Seth Shulman Unlocking the Sky: Glen Hammond Curtiss and the Race to Invent the Airplane Harper Collins (2002) ISBN 0060196335.
• Time (magazine), October 29, 1923, "Speed Limit"
• Time (magazine), October 13, 1924, "At Dayton"

[edit] External links

• Glenn H. Curtiss: Founder of the American Aviation Industry
• The Curtiss Aviation Book by Glenn Curtiss and Augustus Post
• US Government Centennial of Flight - Glenn Curtiss
• Curtiss-Wright Corporation
• A picture of the first U.S. pilot's license, issued to Glenn Curtiss
• Website for the proposed Glenn Curtiss Memorial Park on shore of Keuka Lake, Hammondsport, NY
• Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY