Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Among the most successful early engines marketed in the United States were those designed and built by aviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss. Early Curtiss engines of one and later two cylinders were designed to power motorcycles. In 1904 a two-cylinder, V-type engine-believed to be the first Curtiss aircraft engine-was modified to power Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin's California Arrow. In 1905 the twin-cylinder motorcycle engine was developed into a more powerful airship engine, designated A-2, which powered many early American dirigibles.

This 1909 A-2 engine was purchased in 1910 from the R. O. Rubel, Jr. & Co., the southern distributor for Curtiss motorcycles and engines, by Mr. James Campbell of Easthampton, Massachusetts. Campbell used it in a Curtiss-type aircraft that he designed and constructed. Campbell's aircraft may have been the only heavier-than-air aircraft to use the A-2 engine.

 Display Status

This object is on display in Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Boeing Aviation Hangar
Object Details
Date 1909 Country of Origin United States of America Type PROPULSION-Reciprocating & Rotary Manufacturer Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
 Physical Description Type: Reciprocating, V-type, 2 cylinders, air cooled Power rating: 5 kW (7 hp) at 1,500 rpm Displacement: 1 L (60 cu in) Bore and Stroke: 8.26 mm (3.25 in.) x 9.21 mm (3.625 in.) Weight: 23 kg (50 lb) Dimensions Diameter: 25.4 cm (10 in.), Height: 43.2 cm (17 in.), Width: 7.94 cm (3.125 in.)
Case Diameter: 25.4 x 43.2 cm (10 x 17 in.)
Crankshaft: 7.9 cm (3 1/8 in.)
 Inventory Number A19800029000 Credit Line Gift of Larry D. Lewis. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.