Aviator Glenn Hammond Curtiss
When we think of airplanes, we immediately think Wright Brothers. We don’t often think about the air machines that came after them or who invented them. But there were obviously a lot of other inventors along the way to made improvements and upgrades to flying devices. Impact Lab honors aviator Glenn Curtiss who created the world’s first flying-boat airplane and took it for its maiden flight today at Hammondsport, NY…
An example of the Curtiss NC Flying Boat “NC-3” as it skims across the water before takeoff in 1919.
From Wikipedia:
Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906. In 1908 Curtiss joined the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), a pioneering research group founded by Alexander Graham Bell at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia to build flying machines.
Curtiss rose to fame by making the first officially witnessed flight in North America, winning a race at the world’s first international air meet in France, and making the first long-distance flight in the United States. His contributions in designing and building aircraft led to the formation of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. His company built aircraft for the U.S. Army and Navy, and during the years leading up to World War I, his experiments with seaplanes led to advances in naval aviation. Curtiss civil and military aircraft were predominant in the inter-war and World War II eras.
