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The Consolidated NY was a Naval version of the Consolidated PT-1 trainer, and was produced in significant numbers in the mid 1920s.
In 1923 Reuben Hollis Fleet had formed the Consolidated Aircraft Company in order to produce the Dayton Wright TW-3 side-by-side trainer, and to develop an improved model. In 1924 Consolidated was awarded a production contract for the new aircraft, which entered service as the tandem PT-1 'Trusty'.
One PT-1 was entered into a 1925 Navy competition to find a new training aircraft. The PT-1 defeated fourteen competitors, and an order was placed for forty aircraft (later followed by a second order for thirty six further aircraft).
The Navy requested a number of changes to the design. The Wright E engine of the PT-1 was to be replaced by a 200hp Wright J-4 Whirlwind air-cooled radial. Any zinc plating had to be replaced with cadmium, which was less prone to corrosion in salt water. The undercarriage had to be interchangeable, with wheeled or float versions (using a single large float with wingtip stabilisers). A larger vertical fin and rudder was introduced to counteract the floats. The NY had straight level wings, with no taper but staggered, with the lower wing behind the upper. The front cockpit was just under the trailing edge of the upper wing, the rear cockpit just above the trailing edge of the lower wing.
The float significantly reduced the performance of the aircraft. The float equipped NY-2 had a top speed of 90mph, climb rate of 630ft/ min and a service ceiling of 11,000ft. The PT-3, which used the same engine, had a top speed of 105mph, climb rate of 765ft/ min and service ceiling of 15,900ft.
The NY-1 made its maiden flight on 12 November 1925 and was delivered to the Navy for acceptance trails on the same day. The prototype was wrecked soon afterwards during a short landing in its floatplane setup. Production aircraft began to arrive in May 1926.
The NY-1 was followed by 181 NY-2s, which had a more powerful Wright J-5 engine, 25 NY-2A gunnery trainers and 20 NY-3s.
In total Consolidated produced over 800 of the PT-3/NY series, with 591 of them coming from the Model 2 NY-1/ NY-2/ PT-3 'Husky'/ O-17 family. The NY-1 to NY-3 accounted for 302 of these aircraft.
More than 100 NY-2s and NY-3s were still in front line service in 1929, with another 35 in reserve units. This had dropped to fifteen in 1937 and to one in 1939.
In 1927 the Army tested the XPT-2, a PT-1 modified to use the Wright J-5 engine and this was followed by 130 PT-3s.
NY-1
The NY-1 was the basic version of the aircraft, with the Wright J-4 engine. 76 were produced.
NY-1A
The NY-1A was the designation given to those NY-1s that were turned into gunnery trainers by giving them a 0.30in machine gun on a dorsal mounting.
NY-1B
The NY-1B was the designation given to those NY-1s that were converted to the NY-2 standard, with the larger wings and more powerful engine.
NY-2
The NY-2 was the most numerous version of the NY series. It had longer wings with a 40ft wing span to reduce the wing loading of the seaplane version, and used a more powerful 220hp Wright J-5 engine. A total of 186 were produced.
NY-2A
The NY-2A was the designation given to 25 gunnery trainers which were produced from 1929.
NY-3
The NY-3 was the designation given to twenty NY-3s that were powered by a 240hp Wright R-790-94 engine. They were produced from 1929 and mainly went to Navy and Marine reserve squadrons.
XNY-2
The XNY-2 was a single aircraft that was powered by a 300hp Wright R-975 engine (the nine cylinder version of the J-6 Whirlwind, the next generation of the Whirlwind family). It was tested at McCook Field.
Stats for NY-2 in Seaplane configuration (landplane in brackets)
Engine: Wright J-5 air cooled radial
Power: 220hp
Crew: 2
Span: 40ft 0in
Length: 31ft 4.5in (27ft 10.75in)
Height: 11ft 10in (9ft 1in)
Empty Weight: 2,145lb (1,801lb)
Gross Weight: 2,843lb (2,627lb)
Maximum Speed: 90mph at sea level (98mph)
Cruising Speed: 75mph
Climb rate: 630ft/ min; to 5,000ft in 7.8 min
Ceiling: 11,000ft (15,200f)
Range: 210 miles (300 miles)