The Orenco D was an American
biplane fighter aircraft, designed by
Orenco and built by
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. It was the first fighter type of completely indigenous design (as opposed to foreign types or American-built versions of foreign types) to enter US military service.
Development
The D prototype was offered to the US Army Air Service at the end of 1918. It was a two-bay biplane of all-wood construction, covered with
fabric
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not th ...
. It was powered by a
Hispano-Suiza engine. The pilot of the first flight test,
Clarence B. Coombs, gave it a positive evaluation: "This aircraft performs better than the Sopwith Camel and Snipe, the Thomas-Morse, the Nieuport and Morane Parasol, the Spad and S.V.A."
The military ordered 50 production aircraft, but put the production order up for bidding. Curtiss Aircraft entered the lowest bid and built the fighter, modifying it slightly with a wider wingspan and redesigned
ailerons.
[Angelucci, 1987. p. 119.] The first Curtiss Orenco D flew on 26 August 1921.
Variants
;Orenco D : Prototype, four built
;Curtiss Orenco D : Production aircraft, 50 built
;Orenco D-2 : Prototype based on Curtiss Orenco D. three built, under military designation PW-3.
Operators
;
*
United States Army Air Service
The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...
Specifications
Data from: ''Flight: The Aircraft Engineer & Airships''
"Some 'Orenco' (U.S.A) Aeroplanes" 1 April 1920, pp. 363–366.
Curtiss Orenco D
![Orenco D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Orenco_D.jpg)
Data quoted here may differ in some respects from that quoted by Angelucci.
General characteristics
*crew: one
*length:
*Height:
*Upper Wing
:Span:
:Area:
*Lower wing
:Span:
:Area:
*Total wing area (including ailerons):
*Wing gap:
*Wing stagger:
*Empty weight:
*Gross weight:
*Powerplant: one ×
Wright-Hispano H
*Fuel Capacity:
Performance
*Speed
:At sea level:
:At :
*Time to climb
:To : 4 min 20 s
:To : 8 min 54 s
:To : 16 min 45 s
*Service ceiling:
*Range at full speed:
Armament
*2 × machine guns
Orenco D2
General characteristics
*crew: one
*length:
*Height:
*Upper Wing
:Span:
:Area:
*Lower wing
:Span:
:Area:
*Total wing area (including ailerons):
*Wing gap:
*Wing stagger:
*Empty weight:
*Gross weight:
*Powerplant: one ×
Wright-Hispano H
*Fuel Capacity:
Performance
*Speed
:At sea level:
:At :
*Time to climb
:To : 4 min
:To : 8 min 30 s
:To : 13 min 50 s
*Range at full speed:
References
Bibliography
*
{{USAAS fighters
1910s United States fighter aircraft
Curtiss aircraft
D
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1919