| Curtiss Model D | |
|---|---|
 A "headed" Curtiss Model D (Curtiss photo 1916) pusher; later "headless" models incorporated elevators around the rudder in the tail (like most aircraft since). | |
| General information | |
| Manufacturer | Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company |
| Status | historic |
| Primary user | Exhibition pilots aeronautical experimenters United States Navy Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 1911 |
The 1911 Curtiss Model D (or frequently "Curtiss Pusher") is an early United States pusher aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot's seat. It was among the first aircraft in the world to be built in any quantity, during an era of trial-and-error development and equally important parallel technical development in internal combustion engine technologies.
It was also the aircraft type which made the first takeoff from the deck of a ship (flown by Eugene B. Ely off the deck of USS Birmingham on November 14, 1910, near Hampton Roads, Virginia) and made the first landing aboard a ship (USS Pennsylvania) on January 18, 1911, near San Francisco, California.
It was originally fitted with a foreplane for pitch control, but this was dispensed with when it was accidentally discovered to be unnecessary. The new version without the foreplane was known as the Headless Pusher.[1]
Like all Curtiss designs, the aircraft used ailerons, which first existed on a Curtiss-designed airframe as quadruple "wing-tip" ailerons on the 1908 June Bug to control rolling in flight, thus avoiding use of the Wright brothers' patented wing warping technology.
- ^ Casey 1981, pp. 73–95.