Aircraft Models

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      In 1925, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company built a fast racer that it quickly sold to both the U.S. Army and Navy.  The landplane was designated the R3C-1.  Piloted by Lt. Cyrus Bettis, it won the Pulitzer Trophy Race on October 12, 1925, at a speed of 248.9 mph.  It was then fitted with streamlined single-step wooden floats and redesignated the R3C-2.  On October 25, it won the Schneider Cup Race, piloted by Army Lt. James H. Jimmy Doolittle.  The next day, Doolittle flew the R3C-2 over a straight course at a world record speed of 245.7 mph.
    The Curtis R3C-2 was on loan for several years to the Air Force Museum, where it was restored by Air Force personnel. It now hangs in the Pioneers of Flight gallery at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.