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WWII Curtiss-Wright Factory Postcard AT-9 "Jeep" & SNC-1 Falcon Assembly Line
St. Louis Lambert Field Plant, Unused, Divided BackVintage WWII-era postcard titled "CURTISS TRAINERS," showing the interior of a Curtiss-Wright Corporation Airplane Division factory floor with rows of twin-engine AT-9 advanced trainers and Navy SNC-1 trainers under assembly. Printed caption on the back reads: "Day and night, side by sideCurtiss AT-9 twin-engined transition trainers for the U.S. Army Air Forces and SNC-1 advancedtrainers for the Navy flow off the assembly lines of a Curtiss-Wright Corporation Airplane Divisionfactory." Divided back, "POST CARD" header, unused, no postal markings.This is the Curtiss-Wright plant at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the company's three wartime aircraft plants alongside Buffalo and Columbus. The AT-9 and SNC-1 were both built there concurrently starting in 1942, making this a genuine dual-type production shot rather than a generic factory stock photo.The AT-9, nicknamed the "Jeep" by Army Air Forces pilots (Curtiss-Wright's own name for it was "Fledgling"), was intentionally built to be unstable and hard to land. The Army did not want an easy trainer — they wanted new pilots shaken up before moving on to the B-26 Marauder and P-38 Lightning, both notoriously demanding aircraft. Comedian George Gobel served as an AT-9 and B-26 instructor pilot in Oklahoma during the war, a detail that shows up in aviation histories of the type.The SNC-1 "Falcon," the Navy's version of the same basic Curtiss CW-22 airframe, was used as a scout trainer with retractable gear. 792 AT-9s and 305 SNC-1s were built in total, most of them out of this St. Louis plant.Solid piece for a WWII homefront production or trainer-aircraft collection. Ships in a rigidmailer, postcard sleeve included.Excellent for age. Unused, no writing, no postal cancellation. Clean corners, no creases visible. Standard postcard stock, divided back. Minor edge/handling wear consistent with 80+ years of storage; no tears, stains, or foxing noted. See photos of both sides, sold as shown.