Curtiss CS - Operational History

Operational History

In 1924, the CS-2 was used to break numerous world records for seaplanes in its class in three long-range flights. The first of these took place overnight between 22 and 23 June, when Lt Frank Wead and Lt John Price set five records - distance (963.123 mi, 1,544.753 km), duration (13 hr, 23 min, 15 sec), speed over 500 km (73.41 mph/117.74 km/h), speed over 1,000 km (74.27mph/119.12 km/h) and speed over 1,500 km (74.17 mph/118.96 km/h). Between 11 and 12 July, the same pilots would break the distance and duration records again (994.19 mi/1,594.58 km over 14 hr, 53 min, 44 sec). On October 10, these same two records would be exceeded by Lt Andrew Crinkley and Lt Rossmore Lyon in a flight of 1,460 mi (2,342 km) in 20 hours 28 minutes. While these would have been new world records, the flight was not officially timed, and was therefore not recognized as such.

On September 23, 1925, the U.S. Navy flew 23 Curtiss CS-1 floatplanes to Bay Shore Park on the Chesapeake Bay, 14 miles SE of Baltimore, Maryland, on a Friday with intention of an air show demonstration before the 1925 Schneider Cup Race on Saturday, but that night gale force winds broke three-inch mooring and anchor ropes on 17 of the biplanes and they were blown onto shore or dashed against seawalls, destroying 7 and damaging 10. The next afternoon's Baltimore Evening Sun had the headline "Plane Disaster in Harbor Called Hard Blow to Navy" and quoted General William "Billy" Mitchell, who called the loss of the CS-1s "staggering" and blamed it on Navy mismanagement of its aviation program.