Curtiss HA

The Curtiss HA, sometimes called the Dunkirk Fighter though unrelated to the 1940 battle, was a two-seat biplane seaplane designed by Captain B. L. Smith of the United States Marine Corps and built by Curtiss. It had a central float with balancing floats on the wingtips, a wood fuselage with fabric covering, and a Liberty 12 engine in the nose. The prototype was ordered in December 1917 and first flew on 21 March 1918 but proved very unstable and was destroyed in a crash. The HA-1 was rebuilt from salvaged parts and caught fire in flight, and the wider HA-2 performed better, but the war was nearly over and no production order followed. Three landplane versions flew as mail planes.