1918 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny — Handmade Metal Model Airplane, 1:24

The Jenny — the aircraft that taught America to fly, and then taught it to watch people fly.

Handcrafted at 1:24 on an iron frame, hand-painted yellow with decal insignia, metal propeller and rolling wheels, with biplane wings, strut and rigging detail.

Details

• 1:24 scale, 100% iron frame
• Metal propeller
• Wheels that roll
• Hand-painted yellow finish with decal insignia
• Biplane wings with strut and rigging detail
• Ready to display

The aircraft

Around 95 percent of American and Canadian pilots trained in the First World War learned on a JN-4. It was docile, forgiving and slow — exactly what a trainer should be.

Its second life mattered more. After the war the government sold off thousands of surplus Jennies for a few hundred dollars each, and demobilised pilots bought them and went barnstorming — flying into farm fields, selling rides, wing-walking, and giving most of rural America its first sight of an aeroplane. Charles Lindbergh's first aircraft was a Jenny bought for $500.