Artifact Friday: Curtiss-Wright Junior

Among the oldest aircraft in our collection is the Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior. The Junior was to be an affordable aircraft, roughly the cost of the average car. Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing designed it with the intent of competing with other affordable sports aircraft such as the Aeronca C-2 or the American Eagle Eaglet.

The Junior made its first flight in 1930 and arrived on the market in 1931, shortly after the parent company, Curtiss, merged into Curtiss Wright. This gave the Junior the designation CW-1, as it was the first aircraft of the new Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

The CW-1’s unique design garnered early success for the aircraft, selling 270 models for just under $1,500 each. That is roughly $31,000 per aircraft today, significantly less than the price of a new car. The key to the CW-1’s unique design is the seldom-used pusher propeller orientation. The radial engine, a three-cylinder Szekely SR-3, rests on top of the wings with the propeller pointed to the rear of the aircraft to push the plane rather than pull as most propeller aircraft do.

The push engine was comparable to its pull engine counterparts in terms of power output but came with some significant flaws that would see the CW-1’s success be short-lived. For starters, the Szekely SR-3 had an unfortunate tendency to throw a cylinder due to the lightweight aircraft vibrating so aggressively. Being a pusher-oriented engine, any thrown cylinder would be sent through the propeller and cause catastrophic damage.

Another problem stemmed from the location of the propeller. With the CW-1 so low to the ground and the propeller being in a location where people were not conditioned to expect it, it was all too common for passengers and pilots alike to walk into the propeller, resulting in serious injury and often death.

Although these flaws did end the success of the CW-1, a handful are still in use today. Many are owned by museums such as ours, while others are owned by private collectors. A trick learned early on was to use a steel cable to hold any cylinders in place, should they be thrown, and with proper safety precautions, the propeller would be far less of a threat. These two adjustments make the CW-1 a much more viable aircraft with a fascinating story.