Curtiss Oriole

The Curtiss Oriole (Curtiss Model 17) was an American three-seat general-purpose biplane.

Design
The Oriole fuselage was constructed using laminated wood to form a monocoque body and was powered by either the Curtiss OX-5 V-8 or the Curtiss K-6 engine. The aircraft featured a self-starter and a tall thin radiator in the pilot's field of view.

Operational history
Surplus Curtiss Oriole wings were sold to Harold Pitcairn to manufacture the first production Pitcairn aircraft, the Pitcairn PA-3 Orowing.

Northwest Airlines was founded on August 1, 1926, flying a Curtiss Oriole and a Thomas Morse Biplane on the CAM-9 Airmail route from Minneapolis to Chicago.

Admiral Byrd selected a Curtiss Oriole as his backup aircraft for his Fokker on his North Pole expedition. One was shipped on the steamer Chantier in case the Fokker was unavailable.

A leased Curtiss Oriole was deployed by the 109th Observation Squadron in 1921. The aircraft was flown to Washington D.C. to lobby for Minnesota Air Guard funding.

One Curtiss Oriole were sold to Brazilian Naval Aviation in 1926.

Syd (brother of Charlie) Chaplin Air Line used Curtiss Oriole(s) for its one year of operation in 1920.

Survivors
A Curtiss Oriole is displayed at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York, and an Oriole is on static display at the Minnesota Air National Guard Museum There is one airframe in storage at the Fantasy of Flight Museum, Florida and three in storage in East Wenatchee, Washington at Century Aviation.

Variants
Igor Sikorsky offered a kit to replace the lower wings with a smaller pair with less drag-producing struts and wires. One example with this modification and a 150 hp Hispano-Suiza upgrade, was entered in the 1927 National Air Races. Before the races, the engine was upgraded again to a Hispano-Suiza 220 hp engine, which overwhelmed the cooling system with metal shavings, causing the aircraft to drop out of the race.