Curtiss No. 1

The Curtiss No. 1 also known as the Curtiss Gold Bug or Curtiss Golden Flyer was a 1900s American early experimental aircraft, the first independent aircraft designed and built by Glenn Curtiss.

No. 1 / Gold Bug / Golden Flyer
General information
Type	Pioneer era aircraft
Manufacturer	Herring-Curtiss Company
Designer	Glenn Curtiss
Number built	1
History
First flight	1909
Retired	24 July 1909

Development

After his success with designing aircraft for the Aerial Experiment Association, Glenn Curtiss formed his own company, the Herring-Curtiss Company, in March 1909, in association with Augustus Herring. Earlier in the same month, the Aeronautical Society of New York had placed an order from Curtiss for a new aircraft. The Curtiss No. 1 was the first aircraft both designed and built by Curtiss. Curtiss flew the aircraft to win the Scientific American trophy (which he had won before in the AEA June Bug that he had designed). Encouraged by this success, Curtiss entered the aircraft into the first international air show to be held at Reims in France in August 1909. Before the international competition, the aircraft crashed and was badly damaged;^[1] Curtiss decided not to rebuild the aircraft and built a new aircraft, the Curtiss Reims Racer for the competition.

Specifications

Data from Aerofiles : Curtiss^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
• Wingspan: 28 ft 9 in (8.76 m)
• Powerplant: 1 × Curtiss C-4 4-cylinder in-line water-cooled piston engine, 25 hp (19 kW) to 30 hp (22 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed pusher propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 45 mph (72 km/h, 39 kn)