The Standard J-1, One of History's Forgotten Airplanes

The Standard J-1 airplane was a widely used airplane but it is truly one that history has forgotten. Initially plagued by a poor power plant the Standard J-1 lost its chance to earn a reputation in the world WWI primary training program and in postwar civil use its similarity in appearance to the better known Curtiss JN-4 (the immortal Jenny) meant that all too often it was mistaken for the Jenny.

In the beginning the Standard J began with the Sloan Model H, a conventional two-seat trainer. As the cockpit was located behind the center section struts, instead of between them, it was necessary to sweep the wings back to balance the airplane properly.

Once it became evident that the U.S. would become involved in the 'European' war (WWI) Standard was formed to cash in on anticipated military business. Even today it is not generally known that the major backer was a large Japanese firm. Having no designs of its own Standard took over Sloan thereby acquiring an established design it was able to put into production for the U.S..

The Sloan/Standard H was quickly followed by an improved model, the standard J, initially identified as the SJ-1. This model retained some of the sweepback of the H but instead of having equal-span wings, it had more span on the upper. It also had an extra wheel located ahead of the main wheels for the purpose of preventing student-pilot nose dives.

The SJ-1 was a good airplane but unfortunately the Hall-Scott engine was the millstone around its neck and which sank its military career. This power plant was so troublesome, even catching fire in the air on occasion, that the Army grounded the Standards in 1918.

The Army did try other engines in the SJ-1 but demand for trainers could be easily met by speeding up the production of the Curtiss JN's (the Jenny). So the decision was made that converting the SJ-1 fleet to other power plants was not worth the cost resulting in many brand new Standards sitting out the war in their original shipping crates.

After the war surplus airplanes were sold and Curtiss bought quite a few SJ-1s and put them alongside their own Jennies on the market as 'Curtiss-Standards' complete with the Curtiss trademark. This did nothing to help the identity problem between the SJ-1 and the Jenny.

The refurbished Standard (now called J-1) was put on the market for prices starting at $3,500. The prices soon saw a dramatic downturn but fortunately, by being one of the first in the market, Curtiss was able to sell most of its reconditioned surplus planes before the prices dropped.

Once a civilian became the new owner of a surplus Standard usually the first they did was to pull out the Hall-Scott power plant and put in an OX-5 or Hisso.

The Lincoln Aircraft Corp. of Lincoln, Nebraska became one of the best known refurbishers of Standards. They cleaned up the basic SJ and put in a 150- or 180- hp Hisso behind a new nose radiator and expanded the front cockpit to four seats. These five-seaters were marketed as the Lincoln-Standard 5 or LS-5.

Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California were another refurbisher and they went one better than the Lincoln Aircraft Corp. by making an enclosed cabin. Some of the Ryan conversions gained extra lifting capacity by having the original short-span lower wing replaced by a longer upper wing to produce an equal-span biplane with three bys of interplane struts.

The Standards did everything the Jennies did on the post war barnstorming circuit and did well and sometimes better than the Jenny. In addition to the spectacular air circus work and the famous passenger-hopping out of pastures, the Standards were widely used in the established flying schools of the early and mid 1920's.

The Standards were still around in significant numbers at the start of the Lindbergh Boom but enforcements of the air worthiness regulations, which became effective in January 1927, soon put the skids under those that were not already worn out.

The movies and the post-war antique airplane boom have combined to bring a few of the Standards back and some dedicated antiquers have restored a few salvaged from old barns.

Two that have gained public exposure through movies and TV are a pair built up in 1956 by Otto Timm for the late Paul Mantz to use in the barnstorming sequences in the move "Spirit of St. Louis."

Source - Yesterday's Wings by Pete Bowers