A Little Information On The Jenny
Prior to WW I, the US military was slow to get involved in aviation. The US Army had only a couple of dozen aircraft and lost half of these to accidents. The small contingent of Army pilots, numbering fourteen, was cut by 8 due to these crashes. The Navy had a paltry six aircraft and nine pilots in 1913. Considering that the Wright brothers had made their first flight only ten years earlier, it's easy to see that aviation was still a new and untested part of American military technology.
On the other hand, at the beginning of WW I, the Germans had more than 500 military aircraft! The French had as many as the Germans and the British had about half that number. The US Congress continued to ignore the prospects for military aviation until America finally entered the Great War in April of 1917. At that time, Congress formed the Aircraft Production Board. The Board decided that the need was great and recommended a sizable increase in funds to train pilots and produce aircraft. They recommended training 7,500 pilots and a stepped program of building aircraft: 3,700 in 1918, 6,000 in 1919 and 10,000 in 1920. Congress approved this new plan. However, the manufacturing capacity had a difficult time meeting these goals. One exception was the Curtis Aeroplane and Motor Company which produced a series of aircraft of which the JN model was most notable. The Curtis JN-4, known as the "Jenny", became the primary trainer for training American pilots during the war. Many thousands of these airplanes were produced.
Following the war, many of these surplus aircraft were available for purchase and were used in different roles, including flying the US Mail. Of course, there were a lot of pilots who had been trained and were now without a flying job. The surplus Jennys could be purchased at a fraction of their original cost and pilots began flying around the country showing their skills to people, many of whom had never seen an airplane. These early pilots became known as barnstormers. Shortly after the war, barnstormers could charge as much as $10 to $20 for an airplane ride. A lot of dollars in those days. But as competition increased, prices dropped to as little as a couple of dollars per ride. It was a difficult life for these airborne gypsies, who were skilled pilots but not well trained in maintaining their flying machines. But many a modern pilot would be happy have a Jenny and live the life of a barnstormer. I know a few myself!
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