Jenny Was No Lady; The Story of the JN-4D

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1970. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Good. 288 pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Appendix. Index. DJ has some wear, soiling, edge tear and chip. The author logged more than fourteen thousand flight hours in the U.S. Army Air Corps, U.S. Navy, Nationalist Chinese Air Force, and civilian aviation. The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S. Army, the "Jenny" (the common nickname derived from "JN-4", with an open-topped four appearing as a Y) continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation." Thousands of surplus Jennys were sold to private owners in the years after the war and became central to the barnstorming era that helped awaken America to civil aviation through much of the 1920s . During the 19 months of American participation in World War I, more than 8,000 Jenny aircraft were produced. From the end of WWI until late 1925 Jenny was the only civilian air vehicle around in quantity Excerpt from Ric Lambart of the The First Aero Squadron Foundation posting on-line: Magnificent ode to the once ubiquitous yet venerable Jenny. More of these biplanes were made than any other model of any aircraft in history, and the writer brings that now rare bird back to life in a brilliantly - and colorfully - written testimony to the machine which was truly anything but a lady. Not to be overlooked is the fact that the author knew Jenny most intimately, having received his own Naval Aviator instruction in her. Filled with specific detail rarely seen in books on this now antique aeroplane, it is nevertheless hard to put it down, because of its captivatingly sculpted dialogue. The Jenny made history from it use in Columbus, NM during the first deployment of flying machines in a sustained military operation by the U.S. back in 1916-17, to its conscription by both the States and Canada as the basic trainer for their thousands of fledgling would be new pilots, all being prepared for the bloody battle in Europe during WWI. For anyone interested in the history of aviation, particularly in either the United States or in Canada, this book should be on their must read bucket list.