Greetings, Curtiss Aeroplane Co 1915 - 1919

[Antwerpen]

Hello and warm wishes to all forum members.

I am researching a particular area of early aviation history, and would be delighted to hear from anyone who has specific knowledge of the Curtiss Aeroplane Company factory at Buffalo, NYS, between 1915 and 1919. My particular area of interest is the H-12 and H-16 seaplanes produced there for the Admiralty contracts (UK).

If you have any photographs, documents, publications, family connections or family reminiscences of working at Curtiss during this time, that are not the usual stock information available on the internet, I would be very grateful if you could get in contact. Any information about the British officers that worked at Curtiss Buffalo during this time, or of the test pilots working on the seaplanes, would be particularly wonderful!

Thanks for reading,

Antwerpen

[tcrean7828]

Originally Posted by Antwerpen

Hello and warm wishes to all forum members.

I am researching a particular area of early aviation history, and would be delighted to hear from anyone who has specific knowledge of the Curtiss Aeroplane Company factory at Buffalo, NYS, between 1915 and 1919. My particular area of interest is the H-12 and H-16 seaplanes produced there for the Admiralty contracts (UK).

If you have any photographs, documents, publications, family connections or family reminiscences of working at Curtiss during this time, that are not the usual stock information available on the internet, I would be very grateful if you could get in contact. Any information about the British officers that worked at Curtiss Buffalo during this time, or of the test pilots working on the seaplanes, would be particularly wonderful!

Thanks for reading,

Antwerpen

Mate,
Welcome to the flagship 'The Aerodrome' where the finest minds on the planet get together and talk about their favorite subject - WW1

tcrean7828

tom

[regular122]

Welcome to the forum.

If you have not discovered the US Navy publication "Naval Aviation in World War I" issued by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in 1969, you will find it helpful. It has a small chapter on the Buffalo Naval Air Station, authored by one of the 2nd Yale detachment, J.J. Shieffelin, later Rear Admiral.

Attached are photos, all courtesy US Navy.

Pic 1 - 1917 First naval aviators trained at Buffalo, the 2nd Yale Unit. Rear L to R: beach boy, Old Bill (cook), Woodhouse (advisor), Clifford Rodman, Percival Fuller, Alexander McCormick Jr., Ganson Depew, Stephen Potter, Seymour Knox, Sanford Otis, Chauncey Lufkin, Frank Goodyear, Scratt (instructor), J.J. Schieffelin, Farwell (1st Yale man). Front row - beach boy, Edward de Cernea with 'Chip' the dog, Smith (mechanic), Traver Smith, Ashton Hawkins. They are standing in front of a Curtiss F Boat. Four of these men would earn the Navy Cross, and de Cernea would also earn the Legion d'Honneur, and the CdG with Palm.

Pic 2 - Curtiss F Boat, the type trained on at Buffalo.

Pic 3 - Curtiss H-12 #A-767

Pic 4 - Curtiss H-16

Pics 5, 6 - H-16s under construction at Philadelphia.

Enjoy, Steve

[Colin A Owers]

You will find some answers to your questions in my "The Fighting America Flying Boats of WWI"published by Aeronaut Press.

Colin A Owers

[Antwerpen]

Thanks for your replies, I have looked at both sources.

Regular 122: the Shieffelin article is useful for background information and has some nice shots of the planes, thank you. Being US-published, however, it tends to ignore the 1915-1916 development (and the UK Admiralty contracts I am interested in), concentrating on what happened with the planes only after the US entered the War. It's still useful to me though, and I'm grateful for your input.

C.A. Owers: Nice plug for your books! :-) I had come across these, they are very well illustrated. Slightly worried by the comment Amazon makes 'about the author':
" This book may not be 100% historically accurate but Colin considered it gave the legends of WWI air-warfare life.."

Just wondered if you knew that Amazon were saying this about you!

Thanks to you both for your help,

Antwerpen

[Colin A Owers]

Antwerpen

I took umbrage at your quote and went straight to Amazon but could not find it in relation to the Fighting America books. I can only conclude it is in relation to another book. The only complaint seems to be that the drawings were not up to the standard of Windsock Datafiles. Strange considering the people who did the drawings were the same ones that did the Datafile drawings. The limitations of a small size is one of the things one has to live with in POD publishing.

My America books are the result of over 20 years research in the US and UK Archives. They are footnoted so anyone can check my sources and interpretations of the material.

The Curtiss HS series was covered in my article in Over the Front.

Colin A Owers

[sator]

Some great photos there regular122, thanks for posting.

[Antwerpen]

Colin -

Apologies for being the bearer of unwelcome news - the comment was made about your volume II of the Fighting America Flying Boats of WW1, here is the link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Am.../dp/1935881450

(if you scroll down the page, you come to a section titled 'About the Author' - it's in there.

I think you should ask them to remove it, it certainly gives the wrong impression, given all your research.

[Colin A Owers]

Antwerpen

The reference is to to Quentin Reynolds' "They Fought for the Sky". I said it was not 100% accurate but it gives the feeling of the legends of WWI aviation better than the more accurate histories.

I still have my well read paperback of Reynolds.

Colin

[ulpilot]

Contact the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport NY. They have the information your looking for.

https://www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/