VINTAGE VIEWS OF NEW YORK
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        Curtiss Flying his Airship
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         Postcard Era:  Real Photo
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        Captain Thomas Baldwin was a showman who used a balloon in his shows.  He and his brother Sam, invented the parachute and demonstrated successful jumps from their balloon.

        Needing a lightweight powerplant to propell his airship he quickly recogonised the Curtiss 2-cylinder engine in the motorcycle that a spectator was riding as ideal. He ordered one from Curtiss and installed it in an airship he named the 'California Arrow'.

        Baldwin visited Hammondsport, and told  Curtiss of his plans for larger airships. Curtiss built him a V-4 of 16 horsepower. The San Francisco earthquake destroyed Baldwin's factory, so he moved to Hammondsport.  He built his airship #4 with Curtiss doing the engine work. In 1908 the U.S. Army contracted Baldwin to build  Dirigible No. 1, the Army's first airship.

        Curtiss had his first taste of flying when he flew airship No.  4. He was a natural, and loved flying.

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