Not a Pusher

The Upper Wing Span of the 1917 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D

None of the other planes on the Personal Courage Wing where the World War I displays were put flew before the Curtiss Jenny. When you start the tour on the second floor you travel counter-clockwise. The Jenny is the elegant display you’ll see before you leave.

This morning one of the restoration volunteers put it right.

“We do a lousy job here at the Museum of showing how things are built.”
He’s happy now to see the 1917 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D in her entirety. Naked as she is. No skin. Only the craftsmanship of a bunch of boat builders. The upper wing spans were original, the remaining crafted by hand to match.

I had no idea the Museum of Flight is entirely funded through private donors. An incredible feat given the extent of their existence and space for displays.

Leonard's good pal Frank Koral came by today as they were finishing up. Wrapping the turnbuckles with wire for safety sake.

Leonard King, lead foreman on the original restoration

“The museum is here forever,” he said.

He went on to explain how the Jenny is at the heart of it.

Then he told me it was the design of the Curtiss Jenny that brought the engines to the front of the plane.

“She’s not a pusher,” he told me.

Not a pusher, and not a pushover.

Make sure you visit the second floor of the Personal Courage Wing at the Museum of Flight if you go.

They saved the best for last (in my opinion)!

That Lady Jenny

1917 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D

“Did she smile?” one of the docents asked me repeatedly.

It was getting late in the day. I’d spent most of it walking around with video and digital cameras recording and photographing the six volunteers and Uncle Len putting her back to one.

First the upper wing, then the lower one. Right side, then the left. The struts. Then the rigging.

“Okay Leonard, rig it!” said Tom Cathcart of the Museum of Flight at one point.

There were cables and turnbuckles coiled up everywhere.

“There’s more cables then a Steinway,” he exclaimed.

Leonard King outside the Museum of Flight

Leonard had brought the Manual of Rigging Notes, Technical Data along with pictures of the original restoration in progress. He’d also slipped a magnifying glass into his pack which came in handy.

The docents of their higher years, many with glasses posed together over the photographs and the glass catching glimpses of the threading for the wires.

By tea time she was one.

The tail was lowered back to the ground. Ladders moved aside. There she sat in all her grandeur. No cover so the actual build and design of the 1917 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D was in plain view for all eyes. No pun intended.

Six years later she is complete again.

And yes, she has a smile.

The display re-opens Friday, October 22

The Perfect Restoration

Incredible people cross my path. One such person lives nearby and is part of the family. Uncle Len. Fourty years separates us, to the day. We’re both born in May with the same number.

Leonard, as he prefers to be called is a retired boat builder. He also restored an old Curtiss Jenny airplane many years ago in Friday Harbour at the Lucy T Whittier Flying Machine Company, for a Mr. Paul Whittier. I asked him to tell me the story on how it all came about.

In his quirky style he quickly explains how Whittier decided to take one on. Restoring a 1917 airplane that is. A style he’d flown as a young man. Saw a picture, made all the right connections. Before long a moving van pulls up to the shop. Leonard gawks at the load. A bunch of boxes and a couple broken wings.

“Looked like it all had been eaten up by rats,” he laughs.

The whole shop went into roars of laughter he explains.

“We’re a bunch of fuckin’ boat builders. What did we know about the Curtiss Jenny? Nothing! That’s how it started.”

There were no plans at all when they began. A Popular Mechanics Magazine article - that was it.

Later, when they did get the blue prints, they discovered their measurements were a mere 1/16” out. Remarkable.

The Curtiss Jenny JN-4D biplane was one of over 8,000 built. Many used to train pilots in WW I. Also a plane that flew the first Air Mail.

Whittier wanted it restored so he could fly it at Oshkosh. In 18 months the Jenny was re-born. It’s final destination intended as a donation for the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

It made the perfect exhibit. The design in itself. Uncovered.

“They have other planes in there that are covered but you can’t see how they were built,” Leonard explains.

That was in the late 1980’s. However, for some reason less then a decade ago (2004), the Curtiss Jenny JN-4D display was broken up.

Along with a close friend, Leonard has been pushing to see it become one again. Tonight we’re near the Boeing airstrip outside Seattle. Ready to wake up in the morning and visit the Museum. Ready for Leonard to see fit the coming together of a perfect restoration. The 1917 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D.