Antique Aeroplanes at WAAAM

A Few of Our Aeroplanes

Check out these beauties ... a small sample of what you'll see at WAAAM!

1917 Curtiss JN-4D

WAAAM's Crown Jewel

Designed by Glenn Curtiss and B. Douglas Thomas, the Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” was the trainer of choice in both England and the US during World War I. Over 9,000 were built by seven companies and it’s estimated that 95% of American and British WWI pilots received training in the Jenny.

One version of the Jenny was used by General Pershing in 1916 to pursue Pancho Villa after he’d attacked the U.S. 13th Cavalry at Camp Furlong, New Mexico.

When WWI ended the Curtiss Airplane Company bought back large numbers of Jennys, refurbished them and resold them in the civilian market. Many pilots used their Army training to introduce America to flight by “barnstorming” or flying from town to town to show off with acrobatics and wingwalking and to sell rides.

The first scheduled air mail flights in the USA in 1918 also used Jennys.

 

1928 Boeing 40C

WAAAM was proud to have been chosen as the first aircraft museum to display this extremely rare 1928 Boeing 40C, owned by Addison Pemberton.

The Boeing 40C was the first commercial airliner in the United States, and was a combination mail carrier and passenger plane.

Pemberton, who runs Pemberton and Sons, an aircraft restoration business based at Felts Field (SFF) in Spokane, says that 18,000 hours went into the restoration of this aircraft.

This particular Boeing 40C is the only one still flying out of the 81 that were built. Pemberton brought it back to life eighty years after it crashed into a mountain near Canyonville, Oregon, just five weeks after it rolled out of the factory.

Learn more: Addison Pemberton's 1928 Boeing 40C

 

1912 Curtiss Pusher (Replica)

When he learned to fly in 1916, Northwest Airlines Chief Pilot Walter Bullock had owned an original Curtiss Pusher. In the 1940's he wanted to fly one again but no originals could be found.

In 1947 he completed and flew his replica. The wings are faithful to the original but the engine and the structure are much modernized using a Continental 85 in place of the primitive Curtiss engine and steel tube instead the original wood and bamboo.

Bullock and the plane's second owner, Peter M. Bowers both put many hours on the plane, flying both for pleasure and to reenact a number of famous flights.

In 1959 Bowers reenacted Glenn Curtiss' 1910 Hudson River flight which won a $10,000 purse for the first airplane flight from Albany, NY to New York City.

The plane changed hands again, and is now on display at WAAAM.

In 1992 Tom Murphy, WAAAM's Director of Restorations, flew this airplane from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Washington, reenacting the first interstate air mail flight in the U.S. done in 1912 by Walter Edwards. A few months before Edwards' flight Silas Christofferson, flying the same airplane that Edwards flew, had departed Portland from the roof of the new eight-story Multnomah Hotel and flew to Vancouver Barracks. In 1995 Tom Murphy reenacted Christofferson's flight using this airplane. A short video about Tom's flight plays at the museum throughout the day.

 

1929 Curtiss Robin

Originally designed as an airplane for private owners and to use the plentiful OX-5 engine, the Robin was one of the earliest cabin airplanes —i.e. pilot and passengers sat inside, sheltered from wind and weather.

Later Robins used a number of other engines such as the Curtiss Challenger 6-cylinder radial and the Wright J-6-5.

Robins are known for many unusual flights, including "Red" Jackson's 400 consecutive rolls in 1929, the Key Brother's endurance flight of 653½ hours in 1935 and the famous Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan's crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1938.

WAAAM's Robin is nicknamed the Blueprint Robin because it was never modified as so many of them were.