LICENSE NUMBER 1

Flight Journal, Apr 2004 by House, Kirk W

Once the AEA dissolved, Curtiss quickly designed and built a more compact and even more effective airplane. In July 1909, he piloted Golden Flier 24.7 miles around a circular course on Long Island, handily winning the second Scientific American aviation trophy for a 25-kilometer flight. He promptly turned the airplane over to the Aero Club in America's first airplane sale and in one morning, taught club member Charles Willard everything he knew about flying.

Almost immediately afterward, Curtiss traveled to France, taking with him an untested machine and no spare parts except an extra propeller. Curtiss was the only American contestant at the first international air meet: the Grande Semaine d'Aviation in Reims. Louie Bleriot gave him another propeller, but Curtiss skipped the first five days of competition rather than risk damage. On Saturday, he at last took to the air, climbed 500 feet and dived for the starting line to pick up speed-the motorcycle hell-rider was showing his stuff! He was racing for the Prix Gordon Bennett, for which he had to circle a 10-kilometer rectangular course twice. Taking a leaf from his motorcycle-racing days, Curtiss raked the corner pylons so closely that he horrified the crowd and landed with a world airspeed record of 46.5mph. But other contestants, including Bleriot, had yet to fly.

Curtiss stewed all day, while Bleriot tinkered with his 80hp engine that had been specifically crafted to challenge Curtiss. The American contingent slumped when the Frenchman beat Curtiss's time on the first lap, but Bleriot fell behind on his second round. Curtiss was the victor and now the proud possessor of the French pilot's license number 2.

Aviators responded angrily when the Wrights deliberately chose the week when Curtiss was in Reims to announce patent suits against him. Undaunted, Curtiss hurried to Brescia, Italy, where he again took top prize, met the Italian king and gave Gabriele D'Annunzio his first airplane ride.

When he returned to the U.S., Curtiss flew exhibitions across the Northeast, and realizing he couldn't be in more than one place at a time, engaged Charley Hamilton as his first contract pilot. December 1909 found Curtiss, Hamilton and Charles Willard in Los Angeles for America's first air meet. The crowd gasped to see all three Curtiss machines in the air at once, and Curtiss flew 53 miles while lapping the field. With the Wright lawsuit hanging over his head, he could fly only by posting bonds.

After a winter's layoff with no exhibitions and only a few sales, Curtiss was desperate. He was quiet, even reserved in public, but he manifested a wild flair at the controls of a speeding vehicle. Reaching into that part of his personality, he took unerring aim at the $10,000 New York World newspaper's prize for the first flight between Albany and New York-the longest ever attempted in America.

That spring, he cruised up and down the Hudson River, intently quizzing steamboat skippers about wind conditions. Scouting out the very few possible landing fields in that rocky gorge, he located one near a psychiatric facility, and its director jokingly told him that his institution was already populated with aviators.