The

Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which faced the Navy Department upon the entry of the U.S. into World War I. ...

TS-1 was an early

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 ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

of the

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 ...

, serving from 1922 to 1929.

Development

While the

Vought VE-7 The Vought VE-7 "Bluebird" was an early biplane of the United States. First flying in 1917, it was designed as a two-seat trainer for the United States Army, then adopted by the United States Navy as its first fighter aircraft. In 1922, a VE-7 be ...

s were serving the Navy well in the early 1920s, they were not originally designed as fighters. The

came up with a simple design driven by a

Lawrance J-1 The Lawrance J-1 was an engine developed by Charles Lanier Lawrance and used in American aircraft in the early 1920s. It was a nine-cylinder, air-cooled radial design. Development During World War I the Lawrance Aero Engine Company of New Yor ...

air-cooled

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

. Its boxy

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

was suspended between the upper and lower wings (essentially having both dorsal ''and'' ventral sets of

cabane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s), with the center area of the lower wing enlarged to accommodate a fuel tank.Lloyd S. Jones, ''U.S. Naval Fighters'' (Fallbrook CA: Aero Publishers, 1977, ), pp. 14-17 The NAF provided

Curtiss Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

with the plans to build the aircraft, and the result, designated TS-1, arrived at

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is nam ...

on May 9, 1922. The TS-1 from Curtiss was delivered with

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

s, so the NAF also designed wooden floats to enable their use on vessels other than

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 ...

s. Testing went well, and in late 1922 the Navy ordered 34 planes from Curtiss, with the first arriving on board the aircraft carrier in December. The NAF built another five themselves, as a test of relative costs, as well as four more used to experiment with water-cooled inline engines. Two all-metal versions of the aircraft, F4C-1s, were developed by Curtiss. This aircraft made its first flight on September 4, 1924. The wings had tubular spars and stamped

duraluminum Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a trad ...

ribs, the fuselage was constructed of duraluminum tubing in a Warren truss form. Compared to the TS-1, the lower wing was raised to the base of the fuselage. The F4C-1 was armed with two machine guns and was powered by a 200 hp nine-cylinder Wright J-3 radial.

Operational history

In addition to operating from the carrier deck, the TS-1s served for several years in floatplane configuration aboard

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s, and

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s. The aircraft were slung over the side by crane or launched from capital ship catapults. Squadron VO-1 operated this way from 1922, and

VF-1 Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) was a fighter squadron of the United States Navy. Originally established on 14 October 1972 it was disestablished on 30 September 1993. It was the fifth US Navy squadron to be designated VF-1. Known as the "Wolfpack" the ...

flew its float-equipped TS-1s from battleships in 1925 and 1926."United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911" by Gordon Swanborough & Peter M. Bowers (Naval Institute Press Annapolis, MD, ) 1976, 546 pp. The TS-1 was not universally liked by its crews. Positioning of the lower wing below the fuselage resulted in short wheel struts. This, and the wheels' placement close to each other, caused considerable problems with ground looping.

Variants

;NAF TS-1: five built Curtiss TS-1 - Langley Aeronautical Laboratory

;Curtiss TS-1: 34 built ;NAF TS-2: two built,

Aeromarine The Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company was an early American aircraft manufacturer founded by Inglis M. Upperçu which operated from 1914 to 1930. From 1928 to 1930 it was known as the Aeromarine-Klemm Corporation. History The beginnings of the ...

engine ;NAF TS-3: two built,

Wright-Hispano E The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiz ...

engine

;NAF TR-2: one built, TS-3 modified by changing the airfoil section on the wings for the 1922 Curtiss Marine Trophy race ;Curtiss-Hall F4C-1:All metal versions for comparison to the original wood and wire construction; two built.

Operators

; *

** VO-1 (Spotting or Observation Plane Squadron) 1922-? **

(Fighting Squadron) 1925-1926

Surviving aircraft

* A6446 – TS-2/3 owned by the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It was previously on display at the

National Naval Aviation Museum The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its curr ...

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

Specifications (TS-1 landplane)

References

* Melton USNR, Lt. Comdr. Dick. ''the Forty Year Hitch''. Wyandotte, Michigan: Publishers Consulting Services, 1970

External links

* Curtiss TS-1 SN: A6446 on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviatio

* Curtiss TS-1 SN: A6315 photograph in the National Museum of Naval Aviation collectio

{{USN fighters Naval Aircraft Factory aircraft, TS 1920s United States fighter aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1922