Curtiss T-32 "Condor"
Model Airplane News Cover Art for March, 1959
by Jo Kotula
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The Curtiss T-32 Condor II was a 1930s American biplane airliner and bomber aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. It was used by the United States Army Air Corps as an executive transport.

  

Curtiss T-32 "Condor"
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The Condor II was a 1933 two-bay biplane of mixed construction with a single fin and rudder and retractable landing gear. It looks (to modern eyes) as a DC-3 crosswise in a hot dog bun. It is quite strange to modern eyes.

It was powered by two Wright Cyclone radial engines. The first aircraft was flown on 30 January 1933 and a production batch of 21 aircraft were then built. The production aircraft were fitted out as 12-passenger luxury night sleeper transports. They entered service with Eastern Air Transport and American Airways, forerunners of Eastern Air Lines and American Airlines on regular night services for the next 3 years.

Here is a video taken from an American Airlines promotional film for travel on the Curtiss T-32 "Condor".

Click here for more information about the Cuirtiss Condor.

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