Curtiss Autoplane Left Side Profile

In the short time after the Wright Brothers first flew their Flyer in 1903, some had toyed with the idea of marrying the airplane with the automobile to produce the convenience of long distance flight with the ability to drive from the airfield to their desired destination. The first person to put this idea into an actual concept at least in the United States, was Glenn Curtiss of the Curtiss 'Jenny' fame. This is the Curtiss Autoplane of 1917. There is not any information that it ever truly flew, other than some statements that it may have lifted off the ground in short "hops". After U.S. entrance into World War I, further development was abandoned so that Curtiss could concentrate on JN-4 'Jenny" production. It was shown at the Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition at New York City in February 1917 to public delight then it disappeared. It was constructed using the wings from the Model L trainer, fitted to a hand built body. There are several large resolution pictures, both during construction, and at the Exposition, so that I was able to correct most of the mistakes from the original line drawings. This is the result. This is the left side profile without an entrance door, and even thought the patent states that a left hand door was optional, from the pictures I believe that the prototype only had the right side door. Also I believe that the body was painted a light color, although it may have been left natural Aluminum. Since I think that it was painted, I went with a light green I found on a 1917 Reo car. The other choices I had were Yellow, mundane Grey, or White. I considered yellow, but went with the green instead. If you compare the cleaned line drawing I posted and the finished profile you should be able to see that I made numerous corrections as I colored it and added details.

Line art by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company patent application 1917 - perhaps drawn by Glenn Curtiss himself