Curtiss-Reid Courier
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| Curtiss-Reid Courier | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Mail plane |
| National origin | Canada |
| Manufacturer | Curtiss-Reid |
| Designer | R.N. Bell |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| First flight | Mid-January 1932 |
The Curtiss-Reid Courier was designed in Canada in 1931 as a specialist, non-passenger carrying, mailplane capable of maintaining services in Canada's hard winters. The 1930s depression led to the end of government subsidised airmail contracts and only one prototype flew. It was lost in 1933 during preparations for a private, long distance flight.
The Reid Aircraft co. was established in February 1928 by W.T. Reid in Montreal but purchased by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company in December 1928.[1]: 236–7 The renamed Curtiss-Reid Aircraft Company remained in Montreal. In early 1931 all government airmail contracts were threatened with cancellation because of the worsening economic conditions but J.A.D. McCurdy, the head of Curtiss-Reid hoped that a specialised mailplane, economical and able to fly in Canada's harsh winters, might find approval.[1]: 243
The Courier (Courrier in French) was a parasol wing aircraft. Its wing was in three parts: two outer panels, straight-edged in plan with constant chord and square tips, swept at 4° and with about 4° of dihedral, and a small trapezoidal centre-section of shorter chord.[1]: 243 [2] This latter was a metal structure which also served as a fuel tank.[3] The outer panels were each built around two wooden spars and duralumin ribs. Like the rest of the Courier, the wings were fabric covered.[1]: 243 [2] Its Frise type ailerons were balanced both statically and aerodynamically.[2]
The wing was braced to the lower fuselage on each side with V-struts to the spars and the central-section joined to the upper fuselage on steel cabane struts.[3] The outer panels folded back along the fuselage for storage or transport on outward leaning rear hinges which placed the trailing edge of the folded wing above that of the centre-section. Short, telescopic struts supported the wings during the folding process.[1]: 243 [2]
The Courier was powered by a 120 hp (89 kW) de Havilland Gipsy III, a four-cylinder air-cooled inverted inline engine, driving a two-bladed propeller. Its oil-cooler was placed under the engine where, in winter, engine heat could keep the oil fluid. The Courier's fuselage was roughly quadrilateral in section and built on welded steel tube Warren girder frames, though the upper decking was rounded. Mail was contained within a 16 cu ft (0.45 m3) compartment immediately behind the engine with a weight limit of 250 lb (110 kg). An open but heated cockpit was placed aft of the trailing edge, the pilot's upward vision enhanced by the short chord centre-section. At the rear, tailplane and elevators, nearly rectangular in plan, were mounted on top of the fuselage. The Courier could be trimmed by adjusting the angle of incidence of the tailplane. The fin and rudder were tall and rounded; the latter extended down to the keel and worked in a cut-out between the elevators.[2][3]
The Courier had split-axle, tailskid landing gear with its bent axles articulated from a small pyramid of steel tubes from the fuselage underside centre-line and with drag struts back to the centre-line. Another, longitudinal, tube from the drag struts' meeting point braced the pyramid. Long-travel oleo struts to the upper fuselage, medium pressure tyres and a track of 6 ft (1.8 m) assisted landings on rough ground. The wheels were enclosed in fairings and equipped with brakes. Its tailskid, which protruded from the extreme fuselage tail, also had an oleo shock absorber.[2][3] The Courier could also be flown as a floatplane after replacing the main gear with a pair of Edo single-stepped floats.[1]: 243 [2]