There is something mystical about the years surrounding the age of the biplane, from the earliest machines to fly over the trenches in Flanders to crossing the Alleghenies with hundreds of pounds of mail on board. The Curtiss Jenny, Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a, Sopwith Camel, and so many other aeroplanes have done an incalculable service to the aviation industry and have built a concrete fascination that infinitely surrounds the pilots, their missions, and the individual machines themselves. One of these machines of legend that deserves widespread recognition is the Standard Aircraft Aero Corporation’s model J-1. Often hidden in the shadows of its contemporary crates, the Standard J-1 served as a training aircraft for the United States Army during a time of war, a platform for forming the U.S. Air Mail service, and as a barnstorming crowd pleaser around the nation. The Standard J-1’s incredible legacy must not be forgotten due to its numerous contributions to the history of aviation and with each role it was given, it stepped up and contributed in pulling the American aviation industry from adolescence and molding it into a considerable national production. After much primary source research, aside from my own interests and obscure knowledge, I have been able to discover just how influential the Standard J-1 was regarding early American aviation and how it might be overlooked when placed alongside its contemporaries.

The Standard J-1’s origins can be traced back to a humble aeroplane manufacturing business titled the Sloane Aeroplane Company based in New York. Formed by a man named John Eyre Sloane, the son-in-law of the famed Thomas Alva Edison, the Sloane Aeroplane Company began operations in 1911 as an aircraft manufacturer and had one of the most complete manufacturing facilities upon its opening, a theme that would continue throughout time. The operation eventually moved to Plainfield, New Jersey and in 1914 the Sloane Aeroplane Company renamed itself to the Aircraft Company at a time when the Standard J-1’s eventual designer, engineer Charles Healy Day, joined the company to head the construction of Sloane’s machines. Following the Aircraft Company came the Sloane Manufacturing Company in 1915 and it is this company, with Day’s engineering on the H-1 / H-2 / H-3 aircraft models, that led to the creation of the Standard Aero Corporation in 1916 with Mr. Harry Mingle as president. The H-2 and H-3 “Day tractors” already had a fine reputation in the U.S. Army and at America’s declaration of war on April 6th, 1917, there was an increased need for primary flight training aircraft to meet the demands of a raging war effort. Incidentally, in 1916 the Standard Aero Corporation introduced a new training machine based on their trusted H-3 design and named (drum roll, please..)- The Standard Model J. There were numerous aircraft manufacturers in the United States at this time but mostly all of them were experimental in nature and could not handle the production requirements outlined by the government for primary training aeroplane. It is because of this, and the military’s familiarity with Standard Aero, that they ordered 100 Model J machines in late April, 1917. More Model Js, gaining the designation J-1 as certain modifications were made such as the removal of the safety nose wheel and control type, were ordered as training requirements continually increased and it is this machine which we know best as the Army trainer, barnstormer, and golden age biplane icon.
         
As the United States scrambled out of peacetime and molded itself into a fighting nation, it was in dire need of a standardized aviation training system and training aeroplanes to meet the demands of an exhausted allied war machine. From early 1917 through through the summer of 1918 the Aviation Section of the United States Army ordered 1,600 Standard J-1 aircraft and used them as primary trainers to supplement the prominent Curtiss JN4 Jenny at training bases around the country. The primary difference between the two, other than certain features such as wing area and wing sweep, was the engine. Fitted in the Jenny was the OX series of engine produced by Curtiss, a popular yet underpowered engine especially when fitted to the Jenny specifically. Fitted in the Standard J-1 was an engine that would eventually lead to its condemnation by the United States Army Air Service; the Hall-Scott A7-A. This four-cylinder, 90-100hp engine was the faulty heart of the J-1 and was prone to excessive vibration and fires and, unfortunately, led to the machine’s permanent grounding on June 6th after General Kenly studied the aeroplane’s flying operations compared to other nations. Although more were to be ordered, this was halted as the director of the Air Service declared that the J-1’s original mission (supplementing the Curtiss JN4 in pilot training) had since been fulfilled and as there were then sufficient Curtiss JN4s to completely take over the role of primary training, steps be taken to replace the J-1s in service with the remaining JN4 machines coming off the assembly lines. According to the Standard Aero Corporation’s president, Mr. Harry Mingle, the issue of safety was completely unrelated to the airframe itself but entirely on the Hall-Scott motor. Unfortunately the aeroplane was built around the Hall-Scott engine at a time when training planes were desperately needed and engine variety was not so plentiful. Other engines, such as the 150hp Hispano-Suiza which was rather plentiful at the time, were tested in the aeroplane but it was too late for the Standard J-1 and the grounding persisted until the end of the war.

As is mostly well known now, the J-1’s life didn’t end when the war did. Although it was grounded as a trainer during the last moments of war, there were numerous other models similar to the J-1 in design that the Standard Aero Corporation produced. Using the J-trainer as a model, Standard built a pursuit and reconnaissance version of the machine titled the Standard JR which had a 175hp Hall-Scott engine, a different wing section, and a single set of controls in the rear cockpit which were of the Deperdussin type. Another Standard machine which may be more recognizable to the aviation initiated is the JR-1B Air Mail biplane, equipped with the 150hp Hispano-Suiza. Designed to be a reconnaissance machine as well, six of these crates were delivered to the post office in August 1918 to pave the road for civilian mail flying; a wonderful new lease on life for the machine that was to be grounded in the Army. Apart from it’s rather infamous career of training pilots for the Army Air Service during the Great War, the Standard J-1 was perhaps the most popular in it’s post-war role of barnstorming and pleasing crowds across the United States. Along with the Curtiss Jenny, many J-1s were still in their shipment crates when the war ended and with the government now having no use for them, sold them at highly discounted rates and quickly the machines made their way into civilian hands with modified airframes and engines. Many were equipped with more popular and reliable engines such as the 150hp Hispano-Suiza and Curtiss OX-5, just to name a few. The Lincoln-Standard was perhaps the most popular of these modified Standards, with four modified versions coming out of the Lincoln Aircraft Corporation in Lincoln, Nebraska. These versions include the Tourabout and Speedster with the 150hp Hispano-Suiza and the Raceabout and Cruiser with the 220hp Hispano-Suiza.

From the movie screens of The Great Waldo Pepper to the gloved hands of U.S. Army flying cadets, the Standard J-1 served in numerous capacities during the growing years of American aviation. It aided an adolescent American military meet the demands of grueling combat at flying bases across the country, served as a platform for the U.S. Air Mail service to fly their precious packages to quaint towns from the tops of mountains to the dusty deserts, and gave innumerable rides to excited passengers as a barnstorming machine. The Standard J-1 was a very influential machine and deserves a place in the history of aviation directly next to aeroplanes such as the AVRO 504 and especially the J-1’s counterpart, the Curtiss Jenny. It is my hope that this article provides you, the reader, with an understanding of the Standard J-1’s relevance to modern aviation.

Resources:
-Aeronautical Society of America and Aero Club of Pennsylvania. “Sloane Company Changes Name.” Aeronautics 15, no. 1 (July 1914): pp. 71–74.
-“Aero Club of America Committee Commends Aircraft Production Board and Signal Corps after Inspection of Army Aeronautic Centers.” Aerial Age Weekly 5, (September 10, 1917): pp. 962–65.
-“Aircraft Production: Hearings before the Subcommitee of the Committee on Military Affairs.” Vol. I. Washington: United States Senate, Sixty-Fifth Congress, Second Session, 1918.
-anon. Aircraft Year Book. New York City: Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Inc., 1919. -“Building the Airplane Fleet.” Air Service Journal 1, no. 21 (November 29, 1917): 661.
-“Expenditures in the War Department: Aviation.” Washington: United States House of Representatives, Sixty-Sixth Congress, Second Session, February 16, 1920.
-Jones, Ernest L. “Progress of American Aviation.” Aeronautics 11 (August 9, 1916): pp. 87–89.-Lipsner, Captain Benjamin B. The Airmail: Jennies to Jets. Chicago: Wilcox & Follett Company, 1951.
-McLaughlin, George F. “The Standard ‘H-3’ Tractor.” Aerial Age Weekly 4 (December 11, 1916): pp. 332–34.
-“Sloan Co. Move to Plainfield.” Aeronautics 9 (December 22, 1915).
-“Standard Aero Company Gets Contract.” Aerial Age Weekly 3 (June 19, 1916): 415.
-“Standard Aero Corporation.” Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering 1–2 (February 1, 1917): 41.
-“Standard Aero Corporation.” The Aeroplane: The International Air Transport Journal 12 (April 25, 1917): 1044.
-Sweetser, Arthur. The American Air Service: A Record of Its Problems, Its Difficulties, Its Failures, and Its Final Achievements. New York; London: D. Appleton and Company, 1919.
-“The Hughes Aircraft Report - The Course of Production; Delays; Misleading Public Statements.” Aerial Age Weekly 8 (December 2, 1918): 616.
-“The Standard Aero Corporation Model J Training Tractor.” Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering 1–2 (April 1, 1917): pp. 216-7.-“The Standard J-R Pursuit Aeroplane.” Aerial Age Weekly 5 (August 6, 1917): pp. 722–23.

Aviation's Standard Biplane: The J-1 Story

Aviation's Standard Biplane: The J-1 Story

By: Carson Hawkins