CURTISS F-BOAT, NORTH ISLAND, CAL. 1915

 

GLENN CURTISS VISITS HIS SCHOOL ON NORTH ISLAND      Glenn Curtiss came to North Island in winter time. All kinds of crackpots with ideas would come over to the island to sell him on some aeronautical idea. He was a soft spoken and very quiet man. He would listen to all of them. I asked him once why he bothered with all of them. He only smiled and said, "You'd be surprised how many good ideas I get from these people."      Gilmore was the Curtiss representative at North Island. He was a nice fellow. He was very strong in the hands. He could take hold of a large sledge hammer with one hand, raise it slowly off the ground and gently touch his nose with it. Try it sometime.      Bert Acosta was a mechanic for Glenn Curtiss at North Island, California. Ray Morris was in charge of instruction. He had a Curtiss pusher with 4 cylinder Curtiss engine, called a grass cutter or sort of primary trainer. Plane would barely fly, but as students had to fly solo, they had the throttle tied down, so all they could do was run along the ground to get the feel of the plane. As they advanced, the stop was taken off the engine so they could fly low and straight hops. Morris discovered that Acosta was taking the plane out and flying it himself, early in the mornings before anyone was on the island. Selections from Walter Lee's Journal

 

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