A Curtiss Jenny on display at the College Park Aviation Museum

1916 Curtiss JN-4D
"Jenny"

Pioneer airplane inventor and manufacturer Glenn Curtiss had years of experience developing bicycles, engines, and aircraft. The JN series, developed as World War I training planes, would become one of the most important planes in early aviation.

The Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" was flown at College Park as part of Airmail's beginnings.

Specs

Year: 1916

Capacity: One pilot + one mail bag OR one pilot, one mechanic

Empty weight: 1430 lbs.

Wingspan: 43 ft. 7 in.

Maximum speed: 75 mph

Engine: Curtiss OX-5 90 horsepower

Propellers: 1 tractor propeller

The Curtiss “Jenny” JN-4 series was the most common U.S. manufactured plane from 1917 into the 1920s. Although it was a popular aircraft for training in the U.S. Air Service during World War I, the Jenny was more popular as a barnstorming and mail-carrying plane throughout the 1920’s. At College Park Airport, the Jenny was a common Airmail plane. In 1918, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated the nation's first Airmail service from College Park, using Jenny's to transport the mail between cities and across states.

Design and Operation

Better known as the "Jenny", the Curtiss JN series was a hybrid design between Glenn Curtiss and British engineer B. Douglas Thomas, then working with Sopwith Aviation in England. Curtiss hired Thomas to design a two-seater tractor (propeller in front) airplane around the Curtiss OX-5 engine. The final design is the combination of Curtiss’s Model N blended with Thomas’ Model J.

Time-tested configuration

Curtiss Jenny’s were a single-engine biplanes with ailerons, equipped either with a Curtiss engine or, later, a more powerful Hispano-Suiza engine. In an early model, Curtiss added a foot bar to control the rudder, and this configuration—rudder (yaw) controlled by feet (later pedals), elevator (pitch) and ailerons (roll) controlled on a central hand mechanism—became the standard setup for small commercial aircraft, still used today.

Almost every airplane you see today--from small single engine planes to big jet liners--has an elevator, aileron, and rudder.

The configuration--or layout of the parts--of the Jenny is the first plane in the College Park Aviation Museum that demonstrates the configuration that planes have maintained through today:

the engine and propeller in front
a stick (yoke) in front of the pilot to control pitch (up and down) with the elevator and roll with ailerons
ailerons -- small flaps on the wings that operate opposite to each other
pedals to control yaw (side to side) via the rudder
a fuselage, or central body

The JN-4D model (on display in our museum) was the definitive design of the JN series. It was introduced in 1917, one month after the U.S. entered WWI, as one of many improved versions Curtiss made to his aircraft design. In this version, a control stick replaced a wheel on earlier models, which controlled the ailerons, now only on the upper wings (for roll).

A World War I trainer

During World War I, over 90% of American pilots learned to fly in the Curtiss JN. The U.S. military and British air force and Navy had a high demand for Curtiss JN’s. The U.S. government contracted with Curtiss factories, as well as other aircraft manufacturers under license, to deliver over six thousand Jenny’s throughout the war.

Post-war surplus

With the end of WWI, the U.S. government quickly cancelled war contracts and began selling surplus military equipment. Glenn Curtiss bought back $20 million worth of equipment, mostly Jennys and OX-5 engines, at a cost of 13 cents on the dollar. Curtiss began an extensive marketing campaign highlighting the many civilian applications of the Jenny, which included aerial photography, commuting, pleasure flying, and exhibition flying (better known as barnstorming).

Jennys were bought secondhand by recreation pilots and barnstormers. Among those who purchased a surplus Jenny was a young Charles Lindbergh who paid $500 for one in 1923. Prices continued to drop as the war surplus was sold off, and used Jenny sold secondhand eventually sold as little as $50 (the U.S. Air Service had paid around $5000 each during the war).

Barnstorming

The Jenny’s ease of operation, versatility, and affordability made it the signature plane of the postwar, barnstorming era. The slower speed of the Jenny, especially with a lower-power Curtiss OX-5 engine, was ideal for performing: stunt performers (barnstormers) would walk along the wings or perform stunts while clinging to the plane high above the crowds. They would tour all over the country and perform for crowds of hundreds of people. For many Americans, a Jenny flown by barnstormers was the first airplane they saw close up.

Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman was a famous barnstormer and the first Black American woman to earn her pilot’s license. She heard about flying from her brothers, who served in the military during World War I. Inspired by their stories, she applied to many flight schools across the country, but no school would take her because she was both African American and a woman. A Black newspaper publisher sponsored her to go learn from a flight school in France. Bessie began taking night classes in French, applied and was accepted by the Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France, and received her license on June 15, 1921 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. She returned to the U.S. to begin her career of barnstorming, with the eventual goal of opening a flight school where anyone could attend. In 1922, she performed the first public flight by an African American woman, and slowly grew in popularity, refusing to perform for segregated audiences. She performed in a borrowed plane until she could purchase her own Jenny (JN-4) for $400. On April 30, 1926 at age 34, five years into her career, Bessie died in plane crash during a test flight. She was mourned all over the world, and many flight schools were opened in her name.

Airmail

When airmail service began in 1918, they used 6 Jennys supplied by the U.S. Army. Major Rueben Fleet ordered 6 JN-4Hs directly from Glenn Curtiss. Fleet wanted larger fuel tanks to extend the Jenny’s range and the front cockpit replaced with a mail hopper to hold 300 pounds of mail.

A Jenny was flown on the first official airmail flight, still managed by the U.S. Army, although the pilot never completed the route. When it took over the airmail operation, The Post Office used the modified Jennys to prove airmail was a viable service. In the first year, Jennys helped airmail pilots complete 92% of their scheduled flights. However, officials soon wanted an airplane able to carry more mail and fly farther, so adopted other planes.

Flight operations moved to College Park and airmail service began in August 1918, although the machines flown here at College Park were the JN-4H model, as opposed to the earlier JN-4D currently display in the museum.
To accommodate airmail service, the 90 horsepower Curtiss engine was replaced by a 150 horsepower Hispano-Suiza engine to fly at a heavier weight. The Jenny’s could carry a little less than 300 pounds of mail per trip. The front seat was left out of adapted Jenny’s in order to carry the mail bag. A set of gas tanks were hooked together to double the gas capacity and allow the plane to fly further, although the fuel line was places right and increased the risk of the planes catching on fire.

Our Curtiss Jenny

This Curtiss JN-4D was built in 1916 and, as of May 2024, is part of the museum’s permanent collection, generously transferred from U.S. Army Center for Military History.

This Jenny has had quite the journey. In 1994 its forgotten skeleton was discovered in San Antonio, TX and was possibly connected to Fort Sam Houston or Kelly Airfield, Joint-Base San Antonio. Kelly Airfield was the largest military aviation training center during World War 1, training over 1,700 pilots and instructors. As the most popular training aircraft, Kelly Airfield stationed about 80 Jenny’s during this period. Both sites—Ft. Sam Houston and Kelly Airfield—were military sites of the 1910s with Signal Corps Aeronautics History. Therefore, it is possible that this aircraft was part of the 1st Aero Squadron, commanded by Cpt. Benjamin Foulois. The 1st Aero Squadron helped search for Mexican revolutionary in 1917 as part of the Punitive Expedition.
In the 1990’s, the U.S. Army gathered up the remaining bits and transferred/sold/donated it to the Virginia Aviation and Machine Company, Ltd. Ken Hyde, leading aviation historian and restorer, who built CPAM’s Wright Model B as well as numerous planes in aviation museums throughout the country, led the restoration of this Jenny in 1994-1995. Hyde used existing components of incomplete Curtiss Jenny’s to restore this model, and parts that had to be fabricated were made in strict accord with original Curtiss factory drawings. A monumental task, this meticulous restoration took over 12,000 man-hours to complete and retained up to 60% of original Jenny parts.