Curtiss Model H

what is it?

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.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 28.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 137 km/htop speed
• size 4,831 kgmax take-off weight
• built 478made in total

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 112 years ago, in 1914.
• 🚗Wingspan of 28.3 m: about 6 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

1914

number built

478

role

experimental flying boat

makers

Curtiss

engines

2× Rolls-Royce Eagle I

crew

4

length

14.2 m

wingspan

28.3 m

height

5 m

max take-off weight

4,831 kg

top speed

137 km/h

range

—

ceiling

3,292 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.