The North Island era: Birth of naval aviation

Curtiss gets off the water

	This plane appears to have dual floats and a planing surface in front of the front float. A larger picture and more information are available (68k).

At North Island, Curtiss tried tandem short pontoons replacing the wheels on a land plane. The rear pontoon was six feet wide and five feet long. The front one was narrower. During taxi experiments, the water flowed over the front pontoon. One of the many modifications was a canvas deflector rigged to the front float to stop this. Curtiss succeeded in rising from the water with this plane on January 26, 1911.

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