curtissairplane

The one-of-a-kind Gulfhawk was flown from 1930 to 1936 by Al Williams, former chief test pilot for the U.S. Navy and famous aerobatic pilot. Originally built by Curtiss as a Hawk I export demonstrator with a Curtiss D-12 liquid-cooled engine, it was converted to a Hawk 1A with a Wright Cyclone air-cooled radial engine, then further modified by Williams several times. He flew the Gulfhawk in military and public air shows to promote military aviation during the inter-war years, when aviation budgets were low. By 1933, Williams managed and flew for the aviation department of Gulf Oil Company, which painted the Gulfhawk in its familiar color scheme of orange with white and blue trim. After Williams' death, movie stunt pilot Frank Tallman restored and flew the airplane and displayed it between shows at the Tallmantz Movieland of the Air Museum airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A...

It is either an early Curtiss or a copy of a Curtiss (note mid gap ailerons), and it is a pusher. A tractor has the prop on the front of the engine, while a pusher has it on the back - and this isn't both.

Curtiss? Looks a lot like the original curtiss with floats!

The single narrow float points toward Curtiss (or a copy thereof) - not all of the various versions were well photographed and there is at least one I know they had no photos of in the books on Curtiss I have read.

As said, Curtiss never seemed to use such a V-strut arrangement to attach the central float Stig