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Curtiss designed the Robin to capitalize on the new popularity of aviation following Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927. It was a simple cabin monoplane design with seats for a pilot in front and two passengers in back. The aircraft was originally built to use a World War I-surplus OX-5 engine (still available almost 10 years after the war), though Robins later incorporated newer power plants. The dependable and inexpensive Curtiss Robin became one of the most commercially successful civil airplanes of its time, with 769 produced from 1928 to 1930. It was the most-produced Curtiss aircraft in the period between World Wars I and II.
The Robin was a practical airplane, but best remembered for unusual endurance flights. In 1930, Dale "Red" Jackson performed over four hundred consecutive slow rolls in his Robin. In 1929, Jackson and Forrest O'Brine spent nearly 17 days circling over St. Louis. That record was surpassed in 1935 by the brothers Fred and Al Key, who flew their Robin for over 27 continuous days. (Fuel was delivered from another Robin via hose; mail, food, oil, and spare parts came via container on the end of a rope.) The most famous Robin may be that of Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan, who flew the Atlantic to Ireland after announcing his destination as Los Angeles. These endurance flights showed not only the reliability of the Robin but the dependability of aircraft in general during the 1930s.
The Museum's Robin, dubbed The Newsboy, was purchased in 1929 by the Daily Gazette newspaper of McCook, Nebraska. Delivered as a C-2 Robin powered by a Curtiss Challenger 185-horsepower engine, it flew 380 miles (600 km) a day to deliver 5,000 newspapers to 40 towns across rural Nebraska and Kansas. Publisher Harry Strunk hired pilot Steve Tuttle to deliver the Gazette in the morning and (hopefully) defray costs by selling flying lessons in the afternoon. At each town, Tuttle would drop a bundle of newspapers out of a hole in the bottom of the fuselage. The Newsboy is considered the first aircraft to be used to deliver newspapers on a regular schedule.
After sustaining damage in a tornado, the aircraft was eventually sold, repaired, and flown sporadically in the ensuing decades. The aircraft was restored as a C-1 in the late 1960s by Perry Schreffler and Robert Van Ausdell and is currently equipped with a Wright R-760-8 engine. It has been on loan to the Museum since 1972.
Curtiss designed the Robin to capitalize on the new popularity of aviation following Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927. It was a simple cabin monoplane design with seats for a pilot in front and two passengers in back. The aircraft was originally built to use a World War I-surplus OX-5 engine (still available almost 10 years after the war), though Robins later incorporated newer power plants. The dependable and inexpensive Curtiss Robin became one of the most commercially successful civil airplanes of its time, with 769 produced from 1928 to 1930. It was the most-produced Curtiss aircraft in the period between World Wars I and II.
The Robin was a practical airplane, but best remembered for unusual endurance flights. In 1930, Dale "Red" Jackson performed over four hundred consecutive slow rolls in his Robin. In 1929, Jackson and Forrest O'Brine spent nearly 17 days circling over St. Louis. That record was surpassed in 1935 by the brothers Fred and Al Key, who flew their Robin for over 27 continuous days. (Fuel was delivered from another Robin via hose; mail, food, oil, and spare parts came via container on the end of a rope.) The most famous Robin may be that of Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan, who flew the Atlantic to Ireland after announcing his destination as Los Angeles. These endurance flights showed not only the reliability of the Robin but the dependability of aircraft in general during the 1930s.
The Museum's Robin, dubbed The Newsboy, was purchased in 1929 by the Daily Gazette newspaper of McCook, Nebraska. Delivered as a C-2 Robin powered by a Curtiss Challenger 185-horsepower engine, it flew 380 miles (600 km) a day to deliver 5,000 newspapers to 40 towns across rural Nebraska and Kansas. Publisher Harry Strunk hired pilot Steve Tuttle to deliver the Gazette in the morning and (hopefully) defray costs by selling flying lessons in the afternoon. At each town, Tuttle would drop a bundle of newspapers out of a hole in the bottom of the fuselage. The Newsboy is considered the first aircraft to be used to deliver newspapers on a regular schedule.
After sustaining damage in a tornado, the aircraft was eventually sold, repaired, and flown sporadically in the ensuing decades. The aircraft was restored as a C-1 in the late 1960s by Perry Schreffler and Robert Van Ausdell and is currently equipped with a Wright R-760-8 engine. It has been on loan to the Museum since 1972.
