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Curtiss JN Jenny – Warbird Wednesday Episode #225

The Curtiss JN “Jenny” was a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the “Jenny” (the common nickname derived from “JN”) continued after World War I as a civilian aircraft, as it became the “backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation”.

Thousands of surplus Jennys were sold at bargain prices to private owners in the years after the war and became central to the barnstorming era that helped awaken the US to civil aviation through much of the 1920s.

After the successful deployment of the JN-3, Curtiss produced a development, known as the JN-4, with orders from both the US Army and an order in December 1916 from the Royal Flying Corps for a training aircraft to be based in Canada. The Canadian version, the JN-4 (Canadian), also known as the “Canuck”, had some differences from the American version, including a lighter airframe, ailerons on both wings, a bigger and more rounded rudder, and differently shaped wings, stabilizer, and elevators.