Curtiss Fledgling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Fledgling

The Curtiss Fledgling, known internally to Curtiss as the Model 48 and Model 51
was a trainer aircraft developed for the United States Navy in the late 1920s
and known in that service as the N2C. It was designed in response to a 1927 Navy
requirement for a new primary trainer, and was selected after evaluation in
competition with fourteen other submissions. The Fledgling was a conventional
biplane design with two-bay, staggered wings of equal span braced with N-struts.
The pilot and instructor sat in tandem, open cockpits, and the fixed tailskid
undercarriage could be easily swapped for a large central pontoon and outrigger
floats under the wings for seaplane training. The Navy ordered two batches of
the Fledgling, each powered by different versions of the Wright Whirlwind
engine, both of which were built under the Curtiss designation Model 48.

Believing the design to have commercial potential, Curtiss developed the Model
51 as a civil equivalent powered by the less powerful Curtiss Challenger engine.
The company operated 109 of these aircraft in its own air taxi service, the
Curtiss Flying Service during the 1930s. A number of these aircraft were
experimentally fitted with the same Wright engines used in their military
counterparts as the J-1 and J-2, but these were not produced in quantity.
Another experimental variant, the reduced-wingspan Fledgling Junior was produced
to the extent of a single prototype only. A number of Model 51s were exported to
foreign military services for evaluation: four to Canada and one to
Czechoslovakia, but these did not lead to any purchases. Curtiss also delivered
at least seven N2C-1 kits to Turkey in 1933, as part of an agreement to produce
the Curtiss Hawk Model 35 under licence in Turkey. These N2C-1s were used as
trainers and liaison aircraft by the Turkish Air Force until 1945. At least one
N2C-1 is thought to have been given to Iran as a gift from the Turkish Air
Force.


Role
Trainer

Manufacturer
Curtiss

Designer
Theodore Paul Wright

First flight
1927

Primary user
United States Navy, Curtiss Flying Service

Number built
ca. 160

Variants

Curtiss Lark, Curtiss Carrier Pigeon

Other Variants

Model 48

XN2C-1 - Navy prototypes (3 built)

N2C-1 - Navy version powered by Wright Whirlwind J-5 (31 built)

N2C-2 - Navy version powered by Wright Whirlwind J-6-7 (20 built)

Model 51

Fledgling - commercial version with Curtiss Challenger engine (109 built)

J-1 - commercial version with Wright Whirlwind J-6-5 engine (four converted)

J-2 - commercial version with Wright Whirlwind J-6-7 engine built to N2C-2
standard (two converted)

Fledgling Junior - reduced wingspan version (one built)

A-3 - designation assigned by the USAAF for use of the Fledgling as a
radio-controlled target aircraft

Specifications (N2C-1)

General characteristics
Crew: two, pilot and instructor
Length: 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 2 in (11.93 m)
Height: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
Wing area: 365 ft2 (33.9 m2)
Empty weight: 2,135 lb (968 kg)
Gross weight: 2,832 lb (1,285 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-790-8, 220 hp (164 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 109 mph (175 km/h)
Range: 366 miles (589 km)
Service ceiling: 15,100 ft (4,600 m)
Rate of climb: 965 ft/min (4.9 m/s)




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