AVIATION HISTORY IN 1909

In 1909, Glenn Curtiss and his Golden Flyer won the Gordon Bennett Trophy, plus a $5,000 prize, at the Rheims Air Meet in France. He had the best speed in a two-lap triangular 6.2-mile (10-kilometer) course, averaging 47 miles per hour (75.6 kilometers per hour). A Curtiss plane was used to make the first takeoff and landing on the deck of a ship in 1911. Another Curtiss plane, the NC-4, made the first transatlantic crossing in 1919. Curtiss also built the first U.S. Navy aircraft, called the Triad and trained the first two naval pilots. He received the prestigious Collier Trophy and the Aero Club Gold Medal in 1911. The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world during World War I. When it went public in 1916, it was the world's largest aviation company. During World War I, it produced 10,000 aircraft, more than 100 in a single week. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation was established on July 5, 1929, with the merger of twelve Wright and Curtiss-affiliated companies. The company still exists. Glenn Curtiss made his last flight as a pilot in May 1930 when he flew a Curtiss Condor over the Albany-New York route. He died two months later.