| Wright Model R | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The "Baby Grand" at Belmont Park. | |
| Role | Racing aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Wright Company |
| First flight | 1910 |
| Developed from | Wright Model B |
The Wright Model R was a single-seat biplane built by the Wright Company in Dayton, Ohio, United States, in 1910. Also known as the Roadster or the Baby Wright, it was designed for speed and altitude competitions.
The Wright Model R was derived from the Wright Model B, and was a two-bay biplane with rear-mounted twin rudders mounted in front of a single elevator and carried on wire-braced wood booms behind the wing. It was powered by a 30 hp (22 kW) Wright four-cylinder inline water-cooled engine driving a pair of pusher propellers via chains. [1]
Two examples were flown at the International Aviation Tournament at Belmont Park in November 1910, one being a standard model flown by Alec Ogilvie and the other being a special competition model known as the Baby Grand, which had a 60 hp (45 kW) V-8 engine and a reduced wingspan of 21 ft 5 in (6.53 m). Orville Wright succeeded in flying the Baby Grand at a speed of nearly 70 mph (110 km/h). Both aircraft were entered for the second Gordon Bennett Trophy competition which was held at the meeting, but the Baby Grand, flown by Walter Brookins, suffered an engine failure during a trial flight on the race day and crashed heavily. Ogilvie's aircraft also had engine problems, having to make a stop of nearly an hour to make repairs, but was nevertheless placed third. [2]
Ogilvie also flew his aircraft in the 1912 Gordon Bennet competition, re-engined with a 50 hp (37 kW) N.E.C. engine.
Data from "1910 Wright Model R" . Retrieved 20 May 2012.
General characteristics
Performance
The 1911 Curtiss Model D was an early United States pusher aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot's seat. It was among the first aircraft in the world to be built in any quantity, during an era of trial-and-error development and equally important parallel technical development in internal combustion engine technologies.
The Bristol Biplane Type 'T', sometimes called the Challenger-Dickson Biplane, was a derivative of the Bristol Boxkite. It was built in 1911 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company and was designed as a cross-country racing aircraft for Maurice Tabuteau.
The Roe I Biplane was the first powered aircraft to be designed, built, and flown in England. Designed in an attempt to claim a prize offered by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, it was designed and built by Alliott Verdon Roe, who based it on a powered model with which he had won a Daily Mail prize of £75 at Alexandra Palace in April 1907. This prize was substantially larger: the club committee was offering £2,500 for the first person to fly a circuit of their three-mile (4.8 km) race track by the end of the year. In addition the Daily Graphic was offering a £1,000 prize for a flight of more than a mile (1.6 km).
De Havilland Biplane No. 1 is a name applied retrospectively to the first aircraft constructed by Geoffrey de Havilland, who built and flew it once in December 1909. De Havilland undertook the project with the assistance of his friend, and soon to be brother-in-law, Frank Hearle, and financed the project with £1,000 borrowed from his maternal grandfather as an advance on his inheritance.
The Dunne D.5 was a British experimental aircraft built in 1910. A tailless swept-wing biplane, it was designed by J. W. Dunne and built by Short Brothers at Leysdown for his company, the Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate Ltd. Like its military predecessors it was driven by twin pusher propellers, but it had a considerably more powerful engine.
The Supermarine Sea King was a British single-seat amphibious biplane fighter designed by Supermarine in 1919. Developed from the Supermarine Baby and the Supermarine Sea Lion I, the Sea King was a single seater biplane powered by a pusher 160 horsepower (120 kW) Beardmore engine. It first flew in early 1920 and was exhibited by Supermarine at the 1920 Olympia Show in London. The company released drawings of the aircraft's design prior to the show; what it exhibited was probably a modified Supermarine Baby.
The Boeing Model 6D, a.k.a. Boeing Model 6E, Boeing B-1D and Boeing B-1E, was an American pusher biplane flying-boat built by Boeing between 1928 and 1929.
The Short No.2 was an early British aircraft built by Short Brothers for J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon. It was used by him to win the £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail newspaper for the first closed-circuit flight of over a mile (1.6 km) to be made in a British aircraft.
The Dunne D.8 of 1912 was a tailless swept wing biplane, designed by J. W. Dunne to have inherent stability. One example was supplied to RAE Farnborough. License-built Burgess-Dunne models were used by the US Signal Corps and United States Navy and the short-lived Canadian Aviation Corps. It was the latter's first and only warplane.
The Short S.27 and its derivative, the Short Improved S.27, were a series of early British aircraft built by Short Brothers. They were used by the Admiralty and Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps for training the Royal Navy's first pilots as well as for early naval aviation experiments. An Improved S.27 was used by C.R. Samson to make the first successful take-off from a moving ship on 9 May 1912.
The Wright Model D was built to sell to the United States Army for an observation aircraft. It was similar in design to the Wright Model R with a 6-60 motor. The Model D could fly 66.9 mph and climb 525 feet per minute, but its excessive landing speed discouraged the Army from ordering more.
The COW Biplanes were a pair of similar British tractor biplanes built to compete in the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition. They was not successful.
The Wright Model H and Wright Model HS were enclosed fuselage aircraft built by the Wright Company
The Curtiss CA-1 was an American five-seat biplane amphibian designed by Frank Courtney and built by Curtiss-Wright at St Louis, Missouri.
The Short No.1 biplane was an early British aircraft built in 1909 by Short Brothers. Although it never flew, it was notable for being the first aircraft designed by Horace Short.
The Caudron Type A was the first successful aircraft built by René Caudron and his brother Gaston. During 1910 the Caudron brothers were briefly associated with the Société Anonyme Français d'Aviation (S.A.F.A.), and an example of the type was exhibited at the 1910 Paris Aero Salon as the S.A.F.A. Biplane.
The Bristol P.B.8, or Bristol-Coanda P.B.8', was an early British-built, Romanian-designed two-seat biplane trainer made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1914. Only one was completed, which was never flown.
The Voisin Type de Course was an early French aircraft built by Voisin Frères. It was first flown early in 1910.
The pioneer era of aviation was the period of aviation history between the first successful powered flight, generally accepted to have been made by the Wright Brothers on 17 December 1903, and the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.
