Vintage Photo Glenn Curtiss June Bug Replica N1908C Bicentennial Hammondsport NY
Built for the Bicentennial, flown past Curtiss\'s graveDESCRIPTIONThis is a vintage black and white photograph of N1908C, the Mercury Aircraft replica of Glenn Curtiss\'s 1908 June Bug, also known as AEA Drome No. 3. Built in Hammondsport, New York for the 1976 Bicentennial as a Glenn H. Curtiss Museum project, it was called June Bug II by the museum\'s curator. This is a photograph of the replica, not of the 1908 original. The aircraft sits on grass in front of a wooded hillside and a slat fence, with JUNE BUG and N1908C lettered in black on a fabric panel. Close views show the wire-braced wings with their ribs showing through the fabric, the engine with Curtiss script lettering on its top tank, the control wheel, and bicycle-style wire wheels.The original June Bug was built by the Aerial Experiment Association, the group Alexander Graham Bell organized in 1907, and flown by Glenn Curtiss. On July 4, 1908, near Hammondsport, it flew about 5,090 feet, just under a mile, in a publicly announced, officially observed flight and won the Scientific American Trophy, awarded for the first American airplane to fly a straight kilometer. Bell named it after the June bug beetle. On July 20, 1908, Orville Wright wrote Curtiss that the Wrights did not intend to allow their patented features to be used for exhibitions or commercial flying, the start of a patent fight that would run for years. The original did not survive. Refitted with floats and renamed Loon, it sank during float trials on Keuka Lake and later rotted in a boathouse.The replica began in 1974, when the Curtiss Museum\'s curator proposed building one to mark Curtiss\'s 100th birthday in 1978. Joseph Meade Jr., Carl Kohl and Ray Tillman of Mercury Aircraft took on the work, and it became part of the local Bicentennial plans. With no original plans to work from, the builders drew on AEA journals, patent drawings, and Smithsonian drawings and photographs. The steerable nose wheel was modeled on a Curtiss motorcycle, as the AEA had done in 1908. The replica was christened with a bottle of champagne labeled serial number 1908, and on June 23, 1976, under overcast skies at Pleasant Valley near Hammondsport, pilot Dave Fox opened the Bicentennial reenactment in it, passing over the small cemetery near the end of the strip where Glenn Curtiss is buried. The FAA registry lists N1908C as a Curtiss June Bug, serial MAJB-01, and the replica has been displayed at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.This print is undated and the reverse is blank, so it is not represented as showing the June 23, 1976 flight. The N1908C lettering places the photograph after the replica was completed in 1976. The image has been scanned at 600dpi so every detail is preserved for your review. This is a single photograph; the additional images in this listing are close-up crops of the same print, plus the reverse.Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you\'re unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I\'ll make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking. All shipments receive rigid, professional packaging, sealed and protected in acid free sleeves. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONVintage black and white photographic print with a white print border. The image is sharp on the lettering, engine and wheels, with the nearest wing tips soft from depth of field. Tonal range is strong, with deep blacks, clean highlights and fine grain. A few tiny dust specks are visible. No tears, no creases and no writing on the front. The reverse is clean cream paper with no stamps or markings, and shows a faint soft crease near the upper left and one small crinkle at the bottom edge.
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