Wright Model K

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Model K
Wright Model K taxiing.jpg
RoleMilitary floatplane
National originUnited States
Manufacturer Wright Company
Designer Grover Loening
First flight1915
Primary user U.S. Navy

The Wright Model K was a prototype floatplane built by the Wright Company in 1914 and sold to the U.S. Navy. [1] [2] [3] Its layout was generally similar to the Wright Model F: [4] a typical Wright-style wing cellule and powerplant installation combined with a more modern fuselage design.

Contents

The Model K was the first Wright design to use ailerons instead of wing warping, [2] [3] and the first to feature tractor propellers. [2] [3] It was also the last Wright design to feature the wing and engine configuration that had been used on every Wright aircraft from Flyer I onwards, and the last sale by the company to the U.S. military. [3] [5]

Design

The Model K was a three-bay unstaggered biplane with equal-span wings.The pilot and observer sat in tandem in open cockpits. A piston engine was mounted in the nose, which powered two two-bladed propellers via chain drives. [1] Unlike previous Wright designs, these propellers were mounted tractor-fashion, and higher in the interplane gap. [2] The empennage was arranged as a conventional tail, with an almost circular fin and rudder. [2] The Model K was equipped with two long, pontoon-style floats.

Development

In March 1915, the U.S. Navy invited submissions from fourteen aircraft manufacturers, including Wright, for nine seaplanes. [3] The specifications required by the Navy included that propellers be mounted tractor-wise, and that ailerons be used for directional control. [3] Both of these were a departure from the way Wright had been building aircraft, but the Model K incorporated these features. [3]

Operational history

The U.S. Navy purchased the prototype Model K [1] [3] and assigned it the serial AH-23 (later, A51). [5] [6] No order for further production resulted, and this, the only Model K ever built, was removed from service in February 1917. [6]

Operators

Specifications

Data from Hallion 2019, p.71

General characteristics

Performance

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 3 Taylor 1992, p.898
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 MacFarland 1953, p.1208
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roach 2015, p.110
  4. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft 1985, p.3098
  5. 1 2 Swanborough & Bowers 1990, p.536
  6. 1 2 Hallion 2019, p.71

Bibliography