Curtiss F4C

The first Curtiss fighter built under the US Navy designating system combining type, sequence of design and manufacturer, the F4C-1 (F2C and F3C being "paper" designations assigned to the R2C and R3C racing aircraft respectively) was designed by Charles W Hall.

It was essentially an all-metal version of the wooden Naval Aircraft Factory TS-1, which had been designed by the US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and production of which had been assigned to Curtiss.

The F4C-1, two examples of which were built in 1924 and the first flown on 4 September, embodied some aerodynamic
redesign.

ts wings featured tubular spars and stamped dural ribs, and the fuselage was built up of dural tubing in a Warren truss form, the whole being fabric covered.

By comparison with the TS-1, the lower wing was raised to the base of the fuselage.

Armament comprised two 7.62mm machine guns and power was provided by a nine-cylinder Wright J-3 radial rated at 200hp.