Aircrafttotal Encyclopedia

The NC-4 is a Curtiss NC flying boat that was the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, albeit not non-stop. The NC designation was derived from the collaborative efforts of the Navy (N) and Curtiss (C). The NC series flying boats were designed to meet wartime needs, and after the end of World War I they were sent overseas to validate the design concept.

The aircraft was designed by Glenn Curtiss and his team, and manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, with the hull built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Corporation in Bristol, Rhode Island. In May 1919, a crew of United States Navy and US Coast Guard aviators flew the NC-4 from New York State to Lisbon, Portugal, over the course of 19 days. This included time for stops for numerous repairs and crewmen's rest, with stops along the way in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia (on the mainland), Newfoundland, and twice in the Azores Islands. Then its flight from the Azores to Lisbon completed the first transatlantic flight between North America and Europe, and two more flights from Lisbon to northwestern Spain to Plymouth, England, completed the first flight between North America and Great Britain. This accomplishment was somewhat eclipsed in the minds of the public by the first nonstop transatlantic flight, made by the Royal Air Force pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown two weeks later.

The transatlantic flight

The U.S. Navy's transatlantic flight expedition began on 8 May 1919. The NC-4 started out in the company of two other Curtiss NCs, the NC-1 and the NC-3 (with the NC-2 having been cannibalized for spare parts to repair the NC-1 before this group of planes had even left New York City). The three aircraft left from Naval Air Station Rockaway, with intermediate stops at the Chatham Naval Air Station, Massachusetts, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before flying on to Trepassey, Newfoundland, on 15 May. Eight U.S. Navy warships were stationed along the northern East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada to help the Curtiss NCs in navigation and to rescue their crewmen in case of any emergency.

Curtiss Wright NC-4 flying boat

Curtiss Wright
CurtissNC-4 flying boat "Nancy Boats"
Manufactured1917 Serial A2294
First Flight 30 April 1919

General Info

Crew: 5 Length: 68 ft 2 in (20.78 m) NC-2: 68 ft 2 in (20.78 m) Wingspan: 126 ft (38 m) Height: 24 ft 5 in (7.44 m) Wing area: 2,441 sq ft (226.8 m²)

Powerplant

Empty weight: 16,000 lb (7,257 kg) NC-2: 14,100 lb (6,400 kg) Gross weight: 28,000 lb (12,701 kg) NC-2: 23,000 lb (10,000 kg) Powerplant: 4 × Liberty L-12 V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 400 hp (300 kW) each NC-1: 3x 360 hp (270 kW) low compression Liberty L-12 engines ; converted to four Liberty engines NC-2: 3x 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 engines ; converted to four Liberty engines as the NC-T Propellers: 4-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Empty weight: 16,000 lb (7,257 kg)

NC-2: 14,100 lb (6,400 kg)

Gross weight: 28,000 lb (12,701 kg)

NC-2: 23,000 lb (10,000 kg)

Powerplant: 4 × Liberty L-12 V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 400 hp (300 kW) each

NC-1: 3x 360 hp (270 kW) low compression Liberty L-12 engines ; converted to four Liberty engines

NC-2: 3x 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 engines ; converted to four Liberty engines as the NC-T

Propellers: 4-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

Maximum speed: 85 mph (137 km/h, 74 kn)
Endurance: 14 hours 48 minutes
Service ceiling: 2,500 ft (760 m)

NC-2: 2,500 ft (760 m)

Time to altitude: 2,000 ft (610 m) in 10 minutes
Power/mass: 0.06 hp/lb (0.099 kW/kg)

Armament

Machine guns in front and rear cockpits; Provision to carry depth charges in wartime

Special Links Curtiss Wright NC-4 flying boat

Links to Youtube & Others

The transatlantic capability of the NC-4 was the result of developments in aviation that began before World War I. In 1908, Glenn Curtiss had experimented unsuccessfully with floats on the airframe of an early June Bug craft, but his first successful takeoff from water was not carried out until 1911, with an A-1 airplane fitted with a central pontoon. In January 1912.

Curtiss Wright
NC-4 flying boat

The U.S. Navy's transatlantic flight expedition began on 8 May 1919. The NC-4 started out in the company of two other Curtiss NCs, the NC-1 and the NC-3

Youtube Link

This culminated in a set of four identical aircraft, the NC-1, NC-2, NC-3 and the NC-4, the U.S. Navy's first series of four medium-sized Curtiss NC floatplanes made for the Navy by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The NC-4 made its first test flight on 30 April 1919

Curtiss Wright
NC-4 flying boat "Nancy Boats"
Manufactured1917 Serial A2294 First Flight 30 April 1919