Though praised for its handling and performance, the 7-passenger Curtiss-Wright Kingbird airliner was not a commercial success and was pulled from production in 1934

A black and white image of a 1930 Curtiss Wright KIngbird

The 1930 Curtiss Kingbird Model 55 was powered by two Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind nine-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, each producing 300 horsepower. (Photo from the Paul S. Maynard archive)

BY MARK MAYNARD

The Curtiss-Wright Kingbird was a short-lived U.S. airliner built in small numbers in the early 1930s. The twin-engine Kingbird was a well-liked aircraft by its operators and was praised for its good handling and performance. However, it was not a commercial success and was withdrawn from production in 1934. The Kingbird was replaced by the Curtiss-Wright Condor, a larger and more powerful airliner.

According to the plane’s page in Wikipedia,  the Kingbird was a twin-engine evolution of the single-engine Curtiss Thrush. It shared a similar fuselage but with two engine nacelles mounted on the struts on either side of the fuselage. The Kingbird had a blunt nose behind the propeller arcs, allowing the engines to be mounted closer together. The engines were positioned closer to the plane’s centerline to minimize asymmetrical thrust in the event of engine failure.

The Kingbird was powered by two Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind nine-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, each producing 300 horsepower. It had a maximum speed of 175 miles per hour and a range of 600 miles. The Kingbird could carry a crew of one and seven passengers.

The Kingbird was first flown in 1930 and was certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1931. Curtiss-Wright built a total of 25 Kingbirds between 1931 and 1934. The airliner was used by a number of airlines, including Eastern Air Lines, Transcontinental Air Transport, and Western Air Express.

Curtiss Kingbird Factoids

  • The Kingbird was named after the Eastern Kingbird, a small bird known for its aggressive behavior;
  • The Curtiss Kingbird was the first airliner equipped with a radio altimeter;
  • The U.S. Army Air Corps used the Kingbird as a training aircraft.

Curtiss-Wright Kingbird Specifications

Crew: 1

Capacity: 7 passengers

Length: 34 feet, 5.125 inches

Wingspan: 54 feet, 6 inches

Height: 10 feet, 0 inches

Wing area: 405 square feet

Empty weight: 3,877 pounds

Gross weight: 6,115 pounds

Powerplant: 2 × Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 300 horsepower each

Maximum speed: 175 miles per hour

Range: 600 miles

NOTE: This is another image from my dad, Paul Smith Maynard, who worked four decades in aviation as an engineer. Dad began his career in about 1943 after graduating from West Virginia University. He started with Curtiss-Wright Corp., a pioneer in making flying machines. He went on to work at North American Aviation and Rockwell International. See more of his vintage plane pics here.