RON DUPAS COLLECTION
No. 12762. Curtiss Carrier Pigeon II (NC311N c/n G-2, 985H c/n G-1) National Air Transport
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Curtiss Carrier Pigeon II

10/31/2018. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Carrier Pigeon II mail/express aircraft, also known as Carrier Pigeon CO, was a 1929 design that resembled the 1925 model only in being a single-seat mail and cargo carrier. The type was built at Garden City in 1929, using the 600 hp Curtiss G1V-1570 Conqueror geared liquid-cooled engine, it was an entirely new design but was overlooked in the Curtiss type redesignations of 1935.

Wooden framed wings with Curtiss C-72 airfoil and box spars, aluminum frame tail surfaces, and aluminum fuselage with sheet monocoque structure forward and riveted aluminum tubing aft. The main fuel supply (175 gal, 662 l) was carried in a belly tank and pumped to a gravity tank in the upper port wing.

Registered 985H, the first Carrier Pigeon II was flown in the summer of 1929. Type Certificate No. 237 was issued on September 25, 1929, and the three aircraft built, NC985H, NC311N, NC369N (c/n G-1 to G-3), were all delivered to National Air Transport. The NC registration prefix meant that the aircraft had a full commercial license and could fly internationally."

Created March 31, 2015