Curtiss Robin
Today, a ride in a bland airplane. The University of Houston presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
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I’ve written about so many airplanes in this series: Important ones, strange ones, historic ones. Now it’s time to visit one that was as ordinary as apple pie. Well, until we look closely.
It’s the Curtiss-Robin – a late-comer among those built under the Curtiss label. They’d given us the famed Curtiss Jennie – the airplane my father trained on during World War One. They’d given us prototypes of so many World-War-Two airplanes.
Curtiss Robin in flight (Image courtesy of The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.)
But, in 1928, they gave us that bland three-person civilian airplane, the Curtiss-Robin. I first encountered it when I made a 1935 Comet Model Airplane version of it. Balsa, powered by a rubber band. Here was the most basic high-winged monoplane with nice rectangular shapes. Nothing about it says Gee Whiz! It was so ordinary.
Plans from the 1935 Comet Model Kit
The real airplane barely reached a hundred miles an hour. Its range was just under eight hundred miles. But those numbers shifted as people modified its various models. This was clearly a very versatile machine.
In fact, the same year Comet issued its model airplane, a Curtiss Robin had achieved the remarkable feat of staying in flight for twenty-seven days – flying over fifty-thousand miles. That involved constant inflight refueling and motor maintenance.
Of course, it became briefly famous for Wrong-way-Corrigan’s transatlantic flight in 1938. Douglas Corrigan had managed to load one with extra gas tanks for a nonstop flight from New York to California. Then he took off flying east instead of west – a flight that’d not been approved. He made it all the way to Ireland – then claimed he hadn’t realized he was flying the wrong direction. (Oh sure ... )
Then there’s the Robin at New York’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome – among its wonderful collection of vintage airplanes. They found it in a local barn. Worked it over and made it once-again airworthy. But the Aerodrome also built a wonderfully accurate flyable replica of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis – famous for its prize-winning crossing of the Atlantic. But how to train a pilot to fly it?
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome reconstruction of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis under construction. (Photo by JHL)
It seems the Robin had much in common with the Ryan airplane that Lindbergh had made into his Spirit of St. Louis. The Aerodrome could then modify it – make it serve as a trainer for the pilot who’d fly The Spirit. And when it first flew, their Robin flew with it. What an eerie sight! Two airplanes, each famed for flying the Atlantic, once again taking the skies, this time together. Two eerie Doppelgangers.
The Spirit of St. Louis Replica seen from the cockpit of the Curtiss Robin. (Photo courtesy of the Old Rhinebeck Museum.)
That bland old airplane that few people have even heard of today. That unimpressive machine. It was excellence in a plain red wrapper.
I’m John Lienhard, at the University of Houston, where we’re interested in the way inventive minds work.
(Theme music)
Some Sources:
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company - Wikipedia
The Comet model of the Curtiss Robin that I mention: Oz : Curtiss Robin plan - free download
Another Curtiss Robin in another museum with other statements about its performance: Curtiss Robin – Golden Age Flight Museum
The Wikipedia article about the 37-day endurance Curtiss Robin flight: The Flying Keys - Wikipedia
A video about the Key Brothers’ 27 day Curtiss Robin flight
Detailed information about the Old Rhinebeck Curtiss Robin and its use in support of the Museum’s Spirit of St. Louis flying replica: Curtiss Robin - Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
Mr. Tom Polapink, at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome provides this video of both the Spirit and the Curtiss-Robin in flight—along with other aeroplanes. He also tells this story of the Curtiss Robin’s Rehabilitation: “Brian Coughlin was a prolific aircraft restorer and pilot who was involved at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for most of his life. He and his friend Doug Wallbridge knew of an original Curtiss Robin project that had been stored away in a barn for decades along with a few other vintage aircraft. After many years of making persistent inquiries about availability of the barn contents, Brian and Doug were able to persuade the owner to sell them all of the aircraft. Doug ended up with the Robin and spent a few years restoring it. When it was completed, he asked Brian to perform the test flight as Doug’s health had been declining by that point. Doug passed away, and willed the Robin to Brian, who in turn lent it to the Aerodrome for use in the shows. It was also used to help train Ken Cassens to fly the Spirit of St. Louis reproduction by blocking off forward visibility from the rear seat and having a second pilot (Clay Hammond) in the front seat who could see forward as Ken became accustomed to flying into the narrow runway with limited visibility at Old Rhinebeck with this similar size aircraft.”
Mr. Polapink also proved two more videos of Curtiss Robin history: This, about one in Costa Rica, and this one about refurbishing of another Robin.
This Episode first aired on July 22, 2026.