Jax Stumpes: Glenn H Curtiss Museum (8/25/2019)

Sunday, August 25, 2019
After an overnight stay in Bath, NY, we drove to Hammondsport, NY and the Glenn H (for Hammond) Curtiss Museum, on the recommendation of Tom T at Granite Farms Estates.

Entrance to the Glenn H Curtiss Museum with a
restored Curtiss C-46 Commando #4478772

Hangar-size Glenn H Curtiss Museum

Sculpture of the June Bug

Restored Bath & Hammondsport Railroad caboose (c 1915)

Hammondsport and the shores of Lake Keuka have had vineyards since 1829, and the Urbana Wine Company specialized in producing champagne. A railroad was built to connect Hammondsport to the Erie Railroad in Bath, and had the nickname of "The Champagne Line."
Glenn Curtiss was born in Hammondsport, NY in 1878. As a teenager he was interested in bicycles and speed, and soon began designing and building his own. By 1902 he had a company that built motorcycles, first under the name Hercules.

Single-cylinder Hercules motorcycle (1903 or 1904), was advertised
as the "Next Fastest American Made Machine" (second to
his two-cylinder Hercules motorcycle!)

Reproduction of the 8-cylinder Curtiss motorcycle
(1907 original is in the Smithsonian) that Curtiss used in a time trial
in Ormond Beach, FL, clocking in at 136.36 miles per hour
and earning him the title of "Fastest Man on Earth"

This world speed record held until 1911 when it was broken by an automobile. As the world motorcycle speed record, it was not broken until 1930, the year Curtiss died.

Single-cylinder Curtiss motorcycle (1910) with a wicker sidecar
that was offered as an accessory from 1905-1912

Many other motorcycles were represented, like this
single-cylinder Indian motorcycle (1908) (KSS)

Curtiss experienced his first flight when he was
commissioned to build a 4-cylinder engine for balloonist
Thomas Scott Baldwin who developed a lighter-than-air-ship;
Curtiss made his dirigible flight in 1907

Reproductions of the Baldwin dirigible propellor
and the piloting frame and engine for a dirigible

Once Curtiss became interested in airplanes, he joined with the famous inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, F W "Casey" Baldwin, J A D McCurdy, and United States Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge to form the Aerial Experiment Association, a group of men focused on getting a man into the air. The Wright Brothers had already had a successful controlled flight of a manned aircraft, but maintained secrecy.
Improving upon earlier aircraft and using horizontal "rudders" (precursor of the aileron), Curtiss built the June Bug. He entered it in the American Scientific competition, where the first leg in 1908 was to fly in a straight line for one kilometer. "On July 4, Curtiss piloted the 'June Bug' for a distance of 5,090 feet - 1,810 feet farther than required. No less important, it was the first officially-recognized, pre-announced and publicly-observed flight in America. It won Curtiss the first leg of the trophy and established him as America's foremost aviation pioneer. In 1909, he flew his "Golden Flyer" a distance of 24.7 miles to establish a new world distance record and win the second leg of the Scientific American trophy. Later that same year, in Rheims, France, competing against Europe's top aviators, he won the Gordon Bennett Cup speed race, averaging 46 mph. In 1910, when the New York World Newspaper offered a $10,000 prize for the first successful flight between Albany and NYC, following the Hudson River, Curtiss again determined to be first, and did so in a craft he had named the "Hudson Flyer". He won the prize money, nationwide recognition, and in the process, won the third leg of the Scientific American Competition and permanent possession of the coveted trophy."

June Bug II, a working replica (1974-1976) of the June Bug,
which replicated the 1908 flight during a Bicentennial celebration

Thomas Selfridge consults with Glenn Curtiss

1912 Curtiss Model D "Headless" Pusher (1960 reproduction that once flew)

The Triad (1911 Model A-1) had the capability to operate on
land, sea and air; and was the first United States Navy aircraft
making Curtiss a pioneer in seaplanes and flying boats

Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" was developed in 1917 when the United States
entered the Great War, and was used as a training plane

After the war, thousands of used Jennies were sold to civilians, beginning the age of barnstormers when aviators roamed the country putting on aerial shows and giving rides to paying passengers.

Curtiss Oriole (1919) was the first aircraft with a streamlined shape
and the first of s series of planes named after birds

A 3/4 replica (1994) of P-40E Warhawk/Curtiss-Wright Model 87-B2
(1940-1944) that was considered outdated in Europe by 1941, but due to
its reliability and ruggedness, it was used effectively by US allies

Full-scale replica (2008) of the Curtiss-Wanamaker Flying Boat
"America" (1914), the largest flying boat of its day

Curtiss Aeronola/record player (1919) was
the only non-aeronautical product of the
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company

The Curtiss Cupola was added to his Hammondsport home in 1911,
and used as a "Thinkorium" (rescued in 1972 after a fire in 1969)

Curtiss had many interests, and in 1921 he moved to Florida to become a land developer. He was responsible for the cities of Hialeah, Miami Springs, and Opa-Locka. Many home furnishings have been donated from the Curtiss home in Miami Springs.