Curtiss NC-4 Flying Boat

The greatest challenge faced by aviation immediately after World War I was to demonstrate to the nonflying public the capabilities of the airplane. The first natural barrier to be challenged was the Atlantic Ocean, and it was conquered in 1919.

The NC-4 was one of four NC (Navy-Curtiss) flying-boats, built during World War I originally to provide patrol cover for American shipping in the Atlantic against the attentions of German U-boats. The four aircraft were numbered separately NC-1 to NC-4, but the war was ending even as flight testing began. The NC-1 had three 400 hp Liberty engines and flew for the first time on October 4,1918, and on November 25 proved its load-lifting abilities by carrying 51 people on a single flight(a world record).But even with these abilities,the three-engined installation was considered inadequate for trans-Atlantic flying, and completion of the other three aircraft was delayed while a fourth engine was included in the design. First flights were made on April 12 (NC-2), April 23 (NC-3) and April 30 (NC-4),NC-2 was modified with its engines mounted as tandem pairs was found to be an inadequate configuration, while the other two aircraft retained the between-wings separate tractor type layout of three engines and had the fourth mounted, as a pusher, at the rear of the hull. It was decided to enter the Navy-Curtiss machines for the transatlantic attempt, for which they were redesignated NC-TA.

The first aircraft to cross the Atlantic was a U.S. Navy flying boat, the NC-4. On May 16, 1919, three Curtiss flying Boats - the NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4 - left Newfoundland bound for England.

the NC-1 and NC-3 were soon forced down, and the NC-4, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Read, completed the flight after a stop in the Azores and in Lisbon, Portugal. Commander Read reached Plymouth, England, on May 31, 1919, after a 3,925-mile flight.

THE CREW OF THE NC-4 was as follows:

LtCdr Albert C Read, USN,commander and navigator
Lt Walter Hinton, USNR, pilot
Lt Elmer F Stone, USCG, pilot
Lt James L Breese, USNR,flight engineer
Chief Eugene S Rhoads, USN,flight engineer
Ens Herbert C Rodd, USNR,radio operator

SPECIFICATIONS

Span: 126 ft. 0in.
Length: 68 ft. 3 in.
Height: 24 ft. 4 in.
Gross Weight: 4500 lbs.
Empty Weight: 16,000 lbs.
Engine: Four Liberty 400 hp 12-cylinder Vee-type)

PERFORMANCE

Max speed: 91 mph.
Range: 1,470 miles
Manufactured by US NAVY/Glenn Curtiss Aircraft

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