Curtiss R3C
Curtiss R3C-2
Role	Racing aircraft Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
First flight	18 September 1925
Introduction	1925
Primary users	US Navy US Army
Number built	3
Developed from	Curtiss R2C

The Curtiss R3C is an American racing aircraft built in landplane and floatplane form. It was a single-seat biplane built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company.

The R3C-1^[1] was the landplane version and Cyrus Bettis won the Pulitzer Trophy Race in one on 12 October 1925 with a speed of 248.9 mph (400.6 km/h).

The R3C-2 was a twin float seaplane built for the Schneider Trophy race. In 1925, it took place at Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore, Maryland. With 232.57 mph (374.29 km/h), pilot Jimmy Doolittle won the trophy with a Curtiss R3C-2. The other two R3C-2s, piloted by George Cuddihy and Ralph Oftsie, did not reach the finish line. The next day, with the same plane on a straight course, Doolittle reached 245.7 mph (395.4 km/h), a new world record. For the next Schneider Trophy, which took place on 13 November 1926, the R3C-2's engine was further improved, and pilot Christian Franck Schilt took second place with 231.364 mph (372.344 km/h).

Operators

 United States

• United States Navy - two examples
• United States Army Air Service - one example

Survivors

The R3C-2 that Jimmy Doolitle piloted to victory in the 1925 Schneider Trophy race is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, at Washington Dulles Airport, Virginia. It still wears its '3' 1925 racing number.

Specifications (R3C-2)

Data from Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
• Wingspan: 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
• Height: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
• Wing area: 144 sq ft (13.4 m²)
• Airfoil: Curtiss C-80^[3]
• Empty weight: 2,135 lb (968 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,738 lb (1,242 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Curtiss V-1400 V-12 water-cooled piston engine, 565 hp (421 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 245 mph (394 km/h, 213 kn)
• Range: 290 mi (470 km, 250 nmi) at full throttle

In culture

• A Curtiss R3C appears in Hayao Miyazaki's 1992 animated movie Porco Rosso featuring a romanticized interwar aviation. The Curtiss R3C is flown by a pilot himself named Curtis. The dialogues also reference the 1925 Schneider Trophy.