Topic: Jim's first plane?
started by: Liberal
Posted by Liberal on Apr. 09 2005,7:57 am
I found a picture of this old Curtiss out at the Freeborn county fairgrounds. Could that be a young JimHanson in the pilots seat?
Posted by MADDOG on Apr. 09 2005,10:42 am
Just because he has grayish hair, doesn't make him that old..... Maybe it's his older brother?
????
Posted by jimhanson on Apr. 09 2005,11:57 am
Yeah--I like you guys, too! 
I'm not QUITE that old! But I have (kind of) flown one.The Curtiss Pusher perhaps the first "modern" airplane, with several unique features. It was one of the first to use the "depperdussin" 3-control system that we have now, with a control stick and rudders. Previous aircraft had used either two sticks, (Wrights) or a shoulder yoke.
It had wheels, instead of skids, like the Wright machines. It also had tricycle gear, instead of a tailwheel.
It was powered by the Curtiss-designed OX-5 engine--a great leap forward in engine reliability. Previous designs had no cooling system at all (wrights) or spun the entire rotary engine for cooling.
Curtiss was fighting with the Wrights on a patent suit over aircraft control. The Wrights used wing-warping. Curtiss (and simultaneously, others) used the moveable aileron. Note in the picture that the ailerons have been placed BETWEEN the wings as a separate surface--this was an attempt to diffuse the Wright's claim of patent infringement.
The Pusher initially (as in this picture) had forward elevators--as in the Wright Flyer. Like the Flyer, the initial airplanes had a biplane forward elevator--later ones had single forward elevators (like this one)--the final aircraft dispensed with forward controls altogether. Note that this aircraft has a fixed vertical fin forward of the pilot.
The first aircraft came out in about 1908--by 1910, it had the single piece horizontal stabilizer--by 1912, the vertical fin had disappeared. That would make this airplane between 1910-1912.
The Pusher was famous. It was the first airplane to do aerobatics--the loop and roll. It was the first to land on a ship. It was a favorite of the "aerial demonstration" pilots. Unlike the later Barnstormers, the early Pushers couldn't carry a passenger. People paid just to see an airplane fly--this was undoubtably the case in this photo. They operated from the confines of the racetrack--there were no lights, and no surrounding houses. In later years, barnstormers did hop rides out of the short space within the track.
I got an opportunity to "fly" one back in the early 60s--a retired Northwest pilot, Walter Bullock, had originally soloed in a Pusher. After retirement, he built a copy of one--with two seats, and a larger, modern engine. Insurance regulations prohibited him from carrying passengers, but I went for a ride down the runway with him. We "crow-hopped" off the ground--flying only in ground effect--so yes, maybe I AM that old!
By the way, several years ago, I found and restored my first airplane--a 1947 Cessna 120.