Curtiss T Wanamaker Triplane

Curtiss T Wanamaker Triplane
RNAS Felixstowe, 1916
Role	Patrol Bomber flying-boat
National origin	United States of America
Manufacturer	Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
First flight	1916
Retired	1916
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service
Number built	1

The Wanamaker Triplane or Curtiss Model T, retroactively renamed Curtiss Model 3 was a large experimental four-engined triplane patrol flying boat of the First World War. It was the first four-engined aircraft built in the United States however, only a single example was completed (No.3073), orders for a further 19 from the British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) being cancelled. At the time the Triplane was the largest seaplane in the world.

In 1915, the American businessman Rodman Wanamaker who, prior to the outbreak of the First World War commissioned the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to build a large flying boat, America to win the £10,000 prize put forward by the British newspaper Daily Mail for the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, commissioned Curtiss to build a new, even larger flying boat for transatlantic flight that became known as the Wanamaker Triplane, or Curtiss Model T, (retroactively re-designated Model 3 when Curtiss changed its designation system).

Early press reports showed a large triplane, 68 ft (17.9 metres) and with equal-span six-bay wings of 133 foot (40.5 metre) span. The aircraft, to be capable of carrying heavy armament, was estimated to have an all-up weight of 21,450 pounds (9,750 kilogrammes) and was to be powered by six 140 hp 104 kW) engines driving three propellers, two of which were to be of tractor configuration and the third a pusher.

The British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) placed an order for 20 of the new triplanes, the first one being completed at the Curtiss factory, Buffalo, New York in July 1916. This was the first four-engined aircraft to be built in the United States and one of the largest aircraft in the world.

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