what is it?
The Curtiss CS (or Model 31) was a reconnaissance and torpedo bomber aircraft used by the United States Navy during the 1920s. It was a large single-engine biplane with single-bay unstaggered wings, the design conventional in all respects other than that the lower wing was of greater span than the upper. The CS was built to allow its undercarriage to be quickly and easily interchangeable between wheeled, tailskid undercarriage, and twin pontoons for operation from water.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · biplane · floatplane · 17.3 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 103 years ago, in 1923.
- Wingspan of 17.3 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1923
- number built
- 83
- role
- reconnaissance and torpedo bomber aircraft
- makers
- Curtiss, Glenn L. Martin Company
- engines
- 1× Wright T-3 / Packard 1A-2500 / Wright T-3 Tornado
- length
- 11.5 m
- wingspan
- 17.3 m
- height
- 4.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,820 kg
- top speed
- 166 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 2,438 m
- wings
- biplane
- landing gear
- floatplane
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5195949, Wikipedia: Curtiss CS (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.