Dayton-Wright XPS-1

Last updated
XPS-1
Dayton-Wright XPS-1.jpg
Dayton-Wright XPS-1 during flight testing
RoleInterceptor fighter
Manufacturer Dayton-Wright Airplane Company
First flight1923
Primary user United States Army Air Service
Number built3
Developed from Dayton-Wright RB-1 Racer

The Dayton-Wright XPS-1 was an American single-seat fighter interceptor aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company.

Contents

Design and development

In response to a United States Army Air Service Pursuit Alert (Special) requirement for an interceptor aircraft, Dayton-Wright Airplane Company designed an aircraft with the Army designation PS-1. Using many of the same advanced features of the earlier Dayton-Wright RB-1 Racer developed for the 1920 Gordon Bennett race. The racing aircraft had a pilot cockpit entirely enclosed in the streamlined fuselage. Construction consisted of a wooden semimonocoque fuselage with the cantilever wing constructed entirely of wood and fitted with leading- and trailing-edge flaps.

The XPS-1 differed from its predecessor in having a parasol monoplane configuration with wooden flying surfaces whose fuselage was a fabric-covered steel-tube structure. The main design feature retained from the RB Racer was its retractable undercarriage. The unusual design for the time was a tailskid undercarriage with the main units designed to retract into the lower fuselage sides. The landing gear was hand-operated using a chain-and-sprocket system. It could be raised in 10 seconds and lowered in six seconds.

Three aircraft were ordered as the XPS-1, one was used for ground tests while the remainder were slated for flight trials.

Operational history

Test flights began in 1923 but the performance was so poor the United States Army Air Service refused to accept the design. The three examples remained the only type produced for the PS category.

Operators

Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg  United States

Specifications

Data fromThe Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985).

General characteristics

Performance

Related Research Articles

Curtiss-Wright CW-21

The Curtiss-Wright Model 21 was an American fighter-interceptor developed by the St. Louis Airplane Division of Curtiss-Wright Corporation during the 1930s.

Vultee V-11 American attack aircraft

The Vultee V-11 and V-12 were American stressed-skin monocoque monoplane attack aircraft of the 1930s. Developed from the Vultee V-1 single-engined airliner, the V-11 and V-12 were purchased by several nations for their armed forces, including China, who used them in combat against Japanese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The United States Army Air Corps purchased seven V-11s as the YA-19 in the years before World War II, testing them to gather data to compare against twin engine light attack aircraft.

Consolidated P-30 American two-seat fighter

The Consolidated P-30 (PB-2) was a 1930s United States two-seat fighter aircraft. An attack version called the A-11 was also built, along with two Y1P-25 prototypes and YP-27, Y1P-28, and XP-33 proposals. The P-30 is significant for being the first fighter in United States Army Air Corps service to have retractable landing gear, an enclosed and heated cockpit for the pilot, and an exhaust-driven turbo-supercharger for altitude operation.

Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1

The Wittemann-Lewis NBL-1 "Barling Bomber" was an experimental long-range, heavy bomber built for the United States Army Air Service in the early 1920s. Although unsuccessful, it was an early attempt at creating a strategic bomber.

Consolidated XP4Y Corregidor

The Consolidated XP4Y Corregidor was an American twin-engined long-range maritime patrol flying boat built by Consolidated Aircraft for the United States Navy. Only one was built and a production order for 200 was cancelled.

Consolidated PT-1 Trusty

The Consolidated PT-1 Trusty was a biplane primary trainer used by the United States Army Air Service (USAAS).

Dayton-Wright Company 1917-1923 aircraft manufacturer in Ohio, USA

The Dayton-Wright Company was formed in 1917, on the declaration of war between the United States and Germany, by a group of Ohio investors that included Charles F. Kettering and Edward A. Deeds of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO). Orville Wright lent his name and served as a consultant, but other than that, the location of one of its three factories in the original Wright Company factory buildings in Dayton, Ohio was the only connection to the Wright brothers. In addition to plant 3, Dayton-Wright operated factories in Moraine and Miamisburg, Ohio. During the course of the war, Dayton-Wright produced about 3,000 DH-4s, as well as 400 Standard SJ-1 trainers. The company was hurt by the reputation of the DH-4s it produced as "flaming coffins" or "flying coffins", although they were not in reality more subject to catching fire than other aircraft, and by scandals it faced.

Consolidated Fleetster

The Consolidated Model 17 Fleetster was a 1920s American light transport monoplane aircraft built by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.

Fleet Model 1

The Fleet Model 1 and its derivatives were a family of two-seat trainer and sports biplanes produced in the United States and Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. They all shared the same basic design and varied mainly in their powerplants.

Vultee V-1 Vultee small propeller airliner introduced in 1934

The Vultee V-1 was a 1930s American single-engined airliner built by the Airplane Development Corporation, designed by Gerard Vultee and financed by automobile manufacturer Errett Cord.

Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe

The Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe was an American four-seat touring aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Company of Dayton, Ohio. Because it was the last aircraft designed by Orville Wright, the design was given the designation OW.1. The aircraft was based on a heavily modified De Havilland DH.4. Although only one was produced, the Dayton-Wright OW.1 marks the first working example of a civilian single-engine four passenger light cabin aircraft.

Dayton-Wright Messenger

The Dayton-Wright T-4 Messenger was a light, single-seat reconnaissance aircraft built in the United States by the Dayton-Wright Company in 1918 in the hope of gaining a production contract from the United States Army. It was a small conventional single-bay biplane with a neatly streamlined fuselage and staggered, equal-span wings. The undercarriage was of fixed tailskid type and the pilot sat in an open cockpit. Although diminutive, the design in fact started life as a scaled-up version of the Dayton-Wright Bug and shared a family resemblance to the de Havilland DH.4 that Dayton-Wright was building under licence during World War I. When the US Army was not interested in the aircraft, plans were made to sell it on the civil market, but these came to nothing and the prototype was the only example ever built.

Dayton-Wright RB-1 Racer

The Dayton-Wright RB-1 , also known simply as the Dayton-Wright Racer was a high wing single-engine monoplane racing aircraft developed in the United States to participate in the 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup air race.

Sikorsky S-36

The Sikorsky S-36 was an eight-seat amphibian sesquiplane designed and built by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in the late 1920s. The aircraft was ordered by Pan American Airways, the start of a long association with Sikorsky flying boats.

Verville-Sperry R-3 Racer American racing aircraft

The Verville-Sperry R-3 Racer was a cantilever wing monoplane with a streamlined fuselage and the second aircraft with fully retractable landing gear, the first being the Dayton-Wright RB-1 Racer. In 1961, the R-3 racer was identified as one of the "Twelve Most Significant Aircraft of all Time" by Popular Mechanics magazine. In 1924, an R-3 won the Pulitzer Trophy in Dayton, OH.

Thomas-Morse MB-4 1920s American mailplane

The Thomas-Morse MB-4 was a prototype American mailplane of the 1920s. It was of unusual design, being a biplane with twin fuselages housing the crew of two and a central nacelle which carried the aircraft's twin engines in a push-pull configuration.

The Thomas Morse MB-9 was an experimental American fighter aircraft of the 1920s. It was a single-engined, single-seat parasol winged monoplane, but was unsuccessful, being quickly abandoned.

Martin RB-57D Canberra Specialized high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Martin B-57 Canberra tactical bomber

The Martin RB-57D Canberra was a specialized high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Martin B-57 Canberra tactical bomber, a licence-built version of the English Electric Canberra. It was used by the United States Air Force during the 1950s prior to operational use of the Lockheed U-2.

Stinson Model R American single-engine high-winged monoplane (1932)

The Stinson Model R was an American light aircraft built by the Stinson Aircraft Company in the early 1930s. It was a single-engine high-winged monoplane, developed from the Stinson Junior. 39 units were built.

G Elias & Brother American Aircraft Manufacturer

G Elias & Brother was and American manufacturer of cabinets and aircraft based in Buffalo, New York in the 1920s. A.G. Elias sat on the Manufacturers Aircraft Association's board of directors along with President Frank H. Russell, VP Glenn L. Martin, Charles L. Laurence, Chance M. Vought, S.S. Bradley, George P. Tidmarsh, and Donald Douglas. E.J Elias promoted the construction of a Buffalo municipal airport to aid the local fledgling airplane industry of five aviation companies constructing airplanes and airplane parts. From 1920 to 1925, Elias company's chief engineer, David Earle Dunlap (1896-1957), designed the Elias EM-2 Expeditionary planes. He designed the NBS-3 bomber fuselage and the Elias M-1 Mail plane. Dunlap's Elias TA-1 design was the first United States Army Air Corps Trainer to have a radial engine. After tests a McCook Field, the Army Air Corps selected other manufacturers over the Elias bomber and trainer. The company designed the Elias EM-1 to meet requirements for a multirole amphibian marine expeditionary aircraft. Elias delivered six production Elias EM-2 aircraft with Liberty engines to the United States Navy in 1922.

References

Notes
  1. Wegg 1990, p. 39.
Bibliography