The Aeromarine 39 was an American two-seat training seaplane ordered by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

and built by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of

Keyport, New Jersey Keyport is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,240,biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

configuration and construction, the aircraft was designed so that its pontoons could be speedily detached and replaced with wheeled

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

for shore operations.

History

Aeromarine 39B landing aboard USS Langley (CV-1) in October 1922 (NH 93178)

Fifty of the original design (later referred to as the 39A) were produced, featuring twin floats and powered by a

Hall-Scott A-7 The Hall-Scott A-7 was an early liquid-cooled aircraft engine manufactured by the Hall-Scott company of Berkeley, California. Using a straight-4 configuration, the engine developed 90 horsepower (67 kW) as the A-7 and 100 horsepower (75&nbs ...

engine. A redesign followed, increasing the wingspan to create more lift for water take-offs. This became known as the 39B. Other changes included a change to a single pontoon with outrigger floats, an enlarged

vertical tail A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...

, and a change of powerplant to the

Curtiss OXX The Curtiss OXX was an early, dual ignition water-cooled V-8 aero engine derived from the Curtiss OX. Variants ;Curtiss OXX-2: ;Curtiss OXX-3: ;Curtiss OXX-5: ;Curtiss OXX-6: Applications * Aeromarine 39 * Aeromarine 40 * Burgess-Dunne * Curt ...

. On October 26, 1922

Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier, USN (7 March 1889 – 14 November 1922) was a pioneering naval aviator of the United States Navy of World War I and the early 1920s. Biography Born in Providence, Rhode Island on 7 March ...

landed a 39B on a moving ship, USS ''Langley'', the first time this had been achieved on an American

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

. Trials of underway carrier takeoffs and landings continued through 1922 and 1923.

Survivors

An example of a 39B is preserved at the

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a living museum in Rhinebeck, New York. It owns many examples of airworthy aircraft of the Pioneer Era, World War I and the Golden Age of Aviation between the World Wars, and multiple examples of roadworthy antiqu ...

, although it has been severely damaged by two fires, one in 1966 and one in the early 1980s.

Operators

; *

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Specifications (Aeromarine 39B)

Aeromarine 39A Flight Magazine 1917-08-02 pg

References

External links

{{Aeromarine aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft 1910s United States military trainer aircraft Floatplanes

039 39 may refer to: * 39 (number), the natural number following 38 and preceding 40 * one of the years: ** 39 BC ** AD 39 ** 1939 ** 2039 * ''39'' (album), a 2000 studio album by Mikuni Shimokawa * "'39", a 1975 song by Queen * "Thirty Nine", a song ...

Aircraft first flown in 1917