Curtiss Model N

The Curtiss Model N was a two-seat military trainer biplane, similar to the Model J but with a different airfoil and ailerons mounted between the wings. It first flew in 1915 on a 90 to 100 hp Curtiss OX inline engine. After legal trouble with the Wright brothers over ailerons, the sole Model N was modified with locked ailerons and seven degrees of dihedral to show that a plane could fly without them. Its most prolific variant, the N-9 floatplane, carried a central pontoon and was the first American naval aircraft designed with direct use of wind tunnel data. Of 560 N-9s built in the First World War, only 100 came from Curtiss; most were built under licence by the Burgess Company.