The Curtiss Jenny

The Curtis Aeroplane Company under the direction of Glenn Curtiss manufactured the JN series of biplanes during the early part of the 20^th century.  These planes were originally designed as training aircraft for Army and Navy pilots.  The JN series included models J-1 through J-6 .  Several of these had very limited production and the JN-4 and JN-6 had numbered options or modifications.  The JN-4 series was particularly popular.  The “open topped” four looked like a “Y” and combined with the JN gave this series the nickname “Jenny”.

Production of the Jenny began around 1915 and continued until the mid-1920s.  Prior to America’s entry into World War I early versions of the Curtiss biplane were flying in Mexico on the trail of Pancho Villa.  As the country entered the War demand for the Jenny increased.  Nearly all of the American and Canadian pilots gained their flying experience in the JN-4.  However, she was too slow and unfit for combat service.  She is probably the most recognizable North American aircraft of the World War I era.

While in the service of the US Army Signal Corps Aviation Section and the United States Marine Corps the Jenny is credited with the first US Air Mail flight during May, 1918.  The 1918 24 cent US Air Mail Stamp included an image of the Jenny.  A single sheet of 100 of these stamps was erroneously printed with the image upside down, or inverted.  This resulted in the rarest, most valuable USPOD error of all time.

It was after the War, though, that she saw her most memorable events.  The government had thousands of excess Jenny’s that were sold to civilians at reasonable price, some as low as $50.  Many were used for stunt flying, and the aerobatic displays of the barnstorming era.  The Jenny was still in service with the US Army into 1927.  Some of them were still flying well into the 1930s.

Ship Models Online offers both a 1918 Curtiss JN-4 and a later Curtiss JN-4H (labeled JN-7H).  These are rustic desk models and represent a plane as she would have appeared after many hours of flight.  Either one will allow you to reminisce over the bygone barnstorming days.