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In 1917, Katherine Stinson asked Glenn Curtiss to build a new exhibition aircraft for her. Assembled from aircraft parts available at the Curtiss factory, it combined the fuselage of a Curtiss S-3 triplane with a set of biplane wings and tail surfaces from a JN-4 Jenny. The powerplant was a liquid-cooled, Curtiss OXX-6 V-8 engine. On December 11, 1917, Stinson piloted the aircraft nonstop from San Diego to San Francisco to promote the American Red Cross and raise funds during World War I. She departed Rockwell Field just north of Coronado Island and flew north, over Los Angeles, the Mojave Desert, the Tehachapi Mountains, California’s Central Valley, and finally over San Jose and on to San Francisco, where she landed at the Presidio. She was received by a grand military celebration of her record-breaking, endurance flight, which required nine hours and ten minutes of flight and covered a distance of 606 miles. Several weeks later she flew her plane to Tanforan race track in nearby San Bruno for her first Bay Area public appearance, where she received an award for her record flight and performed aerobatic maneuvers, including looping the loop, flying upside down, and flying an aerial tango. She also participated in an automobile race around the track. “Going the Distance: Endurance Aircraft Engines and Propellers of the 1910s and 20s” is on display, pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library and online at: https://bit.ly/EnduranceEngines
This image was posted on January 24, 2023.