Although some of the of the two-place Curtiss-Wright Travel Air 12 series airplanes had radial engines (there were both Warner- and Kinner-powered versions), the most popular was offered with an inline engine. Powered by a license-built Wright-Gipsy engine of 90 hp, the 12-Q was different in appearance from the 12-W and 12-K models. The four-cylinder upright inline Gipsy was called a “low drive” due to the crankshaft’s position. Although these low drive engines were quite popular in their early years, most of the inline engines produced in the following decade were of the inverted type (“high drive”). This latter arrangment gave better propeller clearance, which allowed aircraft manufacturers to use a shorter landing gear if that was their preference. There are more surviving examples of the radial engine-powered versions of this type, and the 12-Q is quite a rare sight indeed.
