page_title: Curtiss HS
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Curtiss HS / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy Curtiss HS-2L in flight near downtown Pensacola, Florida (USA), 1920s.
context_page_description: The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June 1918. It remained in use with the US Navy until 1928, and was also widely used as a civil passenger and utility aircraft.
context_section_description: The HS-1L began to enter service early in 1918, flying anti-submarine patrols from a number of Naval Air Stations on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and from the Panama Canal Zone. Two HS-1Ls operating from Chatham, Massachusetts made the only confirmed aircraft attack on a German U-boat in American waters on July 21, 1918, but this was unsuccessful, with bombs failing to explode and the submarine escaping.  From August 1918, in order to compensate for Canada's lack of patrol aircraft, US Navy HSs operated from two bases in Nova Scotia. Twelve HS-2Ls were donated to Canada at the end of the war.
  Large numbers of HS boats were also used by US Navy forces in France, with deliveries starting on May 24, 1918, flying their first patrols on June 13. About 160 HS-1Ls and -2Ls were deployed to France. Following the Armistice, the HS boats based in Europe were scrapped apart from four aircraft based in the Azores, which were acquired by Portugal, while the US Naval Air Service shrank considerably, with many Naval Air Stations closing, resulting in considerable numbers of HS boats becoming surplus to requirements and available for sale at $200 to $500 without engines.  HS-2Ls continued in use by the US Navy as a patrol aircraft and a trainer until 1928.
  Following the Armistice, eleven HSs passed into US Coast Guard service, remaining in service until 1926. As many as 83 HS boats were used by the United States Army Air Service for communications and survey purposes from overseas bases, although they were not given US Army serial numbers.
  Surplus HSs were also widely exported.  Amongst Military users was Brazil, who received six aircraft in 1918. Two HS-2Ls were used in an attempt to bomb the rebel held Forte de Copacabana during the 1922 Tenente revolt.    Many were used in Canada as the first bush plane. One survives in the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa after being rescued from a Quebec lake.
caption: An HS-2L over Pensacola, Florida in the 1920s.
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