Thought that you all might be interested in the following correspondence that I have had with Wayne Moore:

Hi Tom,

Bill Scott and I were having a discussion regarding late forties Curtis Wrights. He said you might be the best source of info. Read on!
Whats real story?

WAM

wam,
not real sure about the specifics, but, ,,,,,,,,I think, CW, sold the rights to their trailer design to an Operation up in the Northwest, that became "Silver Streak", or under the name "Stream Liner". Tom Patterson will know for sure. He has a Stream Liner "Dutchess", and
knows more about them. Look at the first VA from Bryan Burkhardt. Volume 7, Issue 1, Fall 1999. The cover photo is a split window CW, or Silver Streak, or Stream Liner,..........what ever, for sure, it is a SOB.
Nice score for Tim Budnick, eh?

Bill


Hi Bill,

I saw the post about the CW and then looked down the list for YOUR response. I knew you going to bust this guys b---- errr bubble. What's really at issue is, was he duped or did he think he was being shrewed in purchasing an "old A/S".
I'm glad I had the sense to ask before running out to buy the one I saw.
Bill you mention an interesting point about late forties CW's not being Silver Streaks. I thought that was a trailer name like a "Flying Cloud" and that the founder of Silver Streak took that for the name of his new company after CW stopped making trailers.

WAM
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Scott
To:
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: [VAC] wd 40 and #0000 steel wool?

> Hi Mark , and welcome to the List. Unfortunately, your 1949 Curtis >Wright, is not an Airstream. Before the war, and just after the war, >Curtis Wright made a few trailers, that looked like Airstreams, then in >48 or 49, maybe 1950, Curtis sold the trailer operation to Silver >Streak. Your coach probably has an oval front and rear window, with a >frame support in the center. Those are called "Split Windows", and >that plus the ID plate, is the only way I know, to distinguish the >Curtis Wrights from the late 40's Airstreams.
>
> As far as polishing with steel wool, ....
> don't do it. Use a good Aluminum polish, like Rolite, and go for it. If >you have a large amount of corrosion, or deep blems or scratches, >then a little #0000 steel wool might help you. Aluminum is soft, and >scracthes easily. "Polishing" is the same as scratching, or abrading. In >order to get a bright , mirror polish, you must use a very soft and >smooth pad, plus a very fine and creamy polish. There are over a >dozen types and grades of Aluminum polish, but so far, I think Rolite is >the best.
> Good Luck.
>
> Bill Scott
> 61 Bambi

By Tom Patterson on Sunday, July 16, 2000 - 08:55 am:

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the history lesson on SS and SL.
I had some pics that I was doing some comparisons on.
For your viewing Pleasure

----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Patterson
To: Wayne A.Moore
Cc: Bill Scott
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: VAC Curtis Wright vs Silver Streak

Hi Wayne,

I sure don't know if I am the best source or not, but I do have a little information. Firstly, I am going to quote the following, which appears in the 2000 Fredericksburg Vintage rally booklet under an article entitled "The R. L. Cooper 1948 Airstream", and which appears to have been written by Bud Cooper.

"During World War II, Wally Byam the founder of Airstream was forced to close up shop and take a job with Curtiss-Wright. As the war wound down, he went to top management and convinced them that he and they together should build trailers after the war. Thus as the war closed in 1945, Engineers were assigned to designing this trailer under the guidance of Wally. The first examples were sold as Curtiss-Wrights in 1946. Within months Wally tired of the arrangement and negotiated a new contract under which Curtiss-Wright could sell the trailer, but Wally could too, only he called his an Airstream. They were identical. C-W never found it very profitable and in June of 1949 sold their interests to partners which called their trailer the Silver Streak."

In addition to the above, please take a look at my website, under Trailers, and then under Silver Streak Trailers. In the message board, there is some discussion under the topic "The Real Story". Obviously the man who might be able to shed some light on the Silver Streak beginnings is Bob Ashby. I have been meaning to visit with him as he only lives about 40 miles to the north of me, but haven't gotten to it. Another person who might have some information is Chris Huotari who has a posting under the topic "Silver Streak rock guard". It appears that he may be collecting literature.

Finally, also under the Trailers and Silver Streak Trailers, look under Trailer Ads. There is an ad for a 1949 Curtis-Wright Clipper, and an ad for a 1949 Silver Streak Clipper. The pictures show identical trailers! Not only that, but the Silver Streak ad says "Formerly Manufactured By Curtiss Wright Industries". Kind of leaves no doubt when and where the Silver Streak came from.

I don't have any information on Airstream trailers for the year 1949, but it would be interesting to see just how similar they are to the Curtiss Wright and Silver Streak Clippers in appearance.

Hope this adds to the information that you are looking for.

-Tom

By Al G. on Sunday, November 05, 2006 - 04:50 pm:

aerofiles.com/otherCWcorp.html :
"There was Curtiss-Wright Corp founded by Glenn H Curtiss and the Curtiss-Wright Corp founded by Curtis A Wright, right? Right, but wrong.

"Two different companies, two different people, unrelated, and some bureaucratic confusion that resulted in two typographical errors, all of which made for some head-scratching by researchers and historians. We were among those thrown off by a "CW-1A Coupe" and "CW-1H Air Coach" which, interestingly, predated Glenn Curtiss' CW model names by several years.

"There is quite a disparity in years with Curtis Wright's pre-war and post-war creations, as well as a scarcity of documentation, and it's easy to assume that he might have been capitalizing on Glenn H's notoriety. However, the real culprit was our Dept of Commerce (DoC), who inserted a hyphen into his name and added an extra "s" — note that Curtis Wright never did use a hyphen in late-1920s production.

"Thanks to research by historian V J Berinati, correspondence between Curtis A Wright and DoC was located which herein clarifies at least the beginnings and shows how two minor typos can affect history."

Curtiss-Wright Corporation history:
www.curtisswright.com/history/Default.asp

Glenn H. Curtiss and the Wright brothers were never in business together. The Curtiss company and the Wright company joined after Wilbur Wright was dead and Orville Wright had left the company, going on to other interests.

Curtiss-Wright and Curtis Wright have no connection other than both being in the aviation industry.