Curtiss NC-4 Design, Construction, and Testing Reports

This collection consists of reports on the design, construction, and testing of the NC series flying boats and photographs of NC-4's construction and transatlantic flight.

In 1917, during World War I, the United States Navy sent out specification for a flying boat of sufficient range to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air to Great Britain, where it would serve as an anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, in conjunction with the United States Navy, developed a three-engine aircraft to meet these specifications. The first of the new aircraft was the NC-1 that flew for the first time on October 4, 1918. This was followed by the NC-2 whose maiden flight took place on April 12, 1919 with four engines in tandem pairs. The engine arrangement of the NC-2 had been declared unsatisfactory for the mission and the wings were removed and installed on the NC-1 to replace the originals that had been damaged in a storm. By this time, World War I had ended, but the Navy decided to continue the program in an effort to make the first transatlantic flight crossing by air. The new NC-3 and NC-4 models reverted to the three-engine format, although the NC-4 had a fourth engine mounted as a pusher behind the center engine. On May 16, 1919 the NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4 assembled at Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, under the command of Commander John H. Towers, to begin the 1400-mile flight to the Azores. The NC-1 was forced down short of the island and sank. Naval vessels stationed along the flight path rescued the crew of the NC-1. The NC-3 landed two hundred miles short and taxied the remaining distance to the island. Only the NC-4 completed the flight successfully, reaching Plymouth, England, via Lisbon, Portugal, on May 31, 1919. Following publicity tours of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, the Curtiss NC-4 was given over to the Smithsonian Institution and is now part of the National Air and Space Museum collection.