Dayton Wright Prototypes & Projects

[hesham]

From, Klassiker der Luftfahrt 2015-08,

here's an article about RB-1 racer.

 

[Stargazer]

Dayton-Wright (Rinehart-Baumann) RB-1
a.k.a. Dayton-Wright Special Racer (1920):
Shoulder-wing monoplane racer for 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup with 250hp Hall-Scott L-6 engine, plywood-clad monocoque fuselage with variable-camber, cantilever wing; first practical retracting gear. Design evolved into military XPS-1.

 

[Stargazer]

Dayton-Wright FP-2 (1921):
Four-seat cabin photographic float biplane designed for forestry patrol in Canada; triple-tail; interchangeable upper and lower wings; two 400hp Hall-Scott L-6 engines, later refitted with 420hp Liberty 12 pushers [1 built, N-CAED].

 

[Stargazer]

O-W Aerial Coupe
a.k.a. O.W.1 Aerial Sedan (1919):
Three- to four-seat cabin biplane modified from surplus de Havilland DH-4 by Ivan Driggs and Orville Wright. 150hp Wright-Hisso A or Packard 8 engine (later 180hp Wright-Hisso E).

 

[Stargazer]

K.T.1 Cabin Cruiser
a.k.a. K-T or Limousine (1920-21):
Four-seat cabin biplane for Kettering & Talbott, another DH-4 modification with canopied cockpits from I. Driggs and O. Wright design. 400hp Liberty 12 engine. Became Rinehart-Whelan KAT.

 

[Stargazer]

U.S. Army XB-1A
a.k.a. U.S.X.B.-1A (1920):
British Bristol Fighter F.2b redesigned with lighter, all-wood monocoque fuselage, 330hp Wright-Hisso H engine. Contracted by Engineering Division (McCook Field) [41 built, A. S. 64156/64193, 64300, 94107/94108; two transfered to Navy as BuAer A5974/5975].

 

[Stargazer]

Army XPS-1
a.k.a. Alerte (1922):
Pursuit/Special Alert with 175hp Lawrance-Wright J-1 engine; sported the military's first retracting gear; last two with 200hp Wright E-4. [3 built, A. S. 68534/68536]

 

[Dynoman]

Model Shop at the Dayton Wright Company. Creating models of future aircraft for production.

 

[hesham]

Thank you guys,

and does anyone know more about its projects ?.

 

[Dynoman]

Dayton-Wright Airplane Company was formed by Charles Kettering in April 1917. Here are Dayton-Wright Company employees working on a Kettering Bug.

 

[Dynoman]

Unknown to me, however the Dayton Wright Aircraft Company had an aircraft known as the "Messenger." Its not a Sperry Messenger and may have been a purchased aircraft for flying documents or other items, or possibly a Dayton Wright design. Here is another picture of the Messenger with a DH-4 Bomber that the Dayton Wright Company built over 3,000 of and sent to Europe.

 

[Dynoman]

Messenger from the rear quarter.

 

[Dynoman]

A couple of pictures of the XB-1A fuselage construction.

 

[Dynoman]

Messenger side and front view.

 

[Stargazer]

.

 

[Dynoman]

From Aerofiles- Dayton Wright

T-4 Messenger 1918 = Army ultralight scout/recon, enlarged from the 1917 Bug. 1pOB; 37hp two-cycle DePalma V-4; span: 19'3" length: 17'6" load: 236# v: 85/x/35 range: 200. All-wood construction. Oliver Thomas. POP: 1. Plans to market as a civil lightplane never came to pass.

 

[Stargazer]

and does anyone know more about its projects ?.

Known models:

• Bug (Kettering Bug) (1917) Single-seat biplane, factory test-bed for 37hp Kettering/Morehouse motor to be used on aerial torpedoes. One built. Decision to convert it for the civil market never implemented.
• A-1 Kettering Bug (Kettering-General Motors) Pilotless aerial torpedo developed from the Bug prototype; tested at Pensacola. 20 built.
• FS-1 First Shot (1917) Two-seat biplane with 100hp Hall-Scott A-7 engine as a new venture in training civilian flight students. One built.
• FS-2 First Shot (1917) Apparently a near-twin of FS-1, sold in 1918 and refitted with 220hp geared Hisso engine. One built.
• T-4 Messenger (1918) Army ultralight scout/reconnaissance by Oliver Thomas, an enlarged Bug with 37hp two-cycle DePalma V-4 engine. One built. Plans to market as a civil lightplane never came to pass.
• J-1 (1918) Wartime production of Standard J-1.
• DH-4 (1918) License production of British DH-4, some of which only involved engine installation; 400hp Liberty 12 engine. 3106 built.
• DH-4B-5 = Honeymoon Special (1918) Transport conversion with supercharged Liberty, thus nicknamed for its cozy cabin for two.
• DH-4C (no data).
• DH-4K Honeymoon Express. Possible confusion with DH-4B-5.
• DH-4 Mailplane. Mailplane conversion of DH-4.
• DH-4Amb-2. Ambulance conversion of DH-4.
• USD-9A. Similar to Engineering Division USD-9.
• Bull Head (or Bullhead) (ca. 1918) Hisso-powered mystery plane, about which no data could be found.
• M-1 (1919) Single-seat biplane for engine testing; 50hp DePalma V-4 engine. One built.
• O-W Aerial Coupe = O.W.1 Aerial Sedan (1919). Three-/four-seat cabin biplane modified from surplus de Havilland DH-4 by Ivan Driggs and Orville Wright. 150hp Wright-Hisso A or Packard 8 engine (later 180hp Wright-Hisso E). One built.
• DWH-4 Blue Bird (ca. 1920) Two-seat biplane trainer based on DH-4 with enlarged fuel tank, produced "in small numbers" for Army.
• DH-4R Nine-Hour Cruiser (1920). No details.
• R-B Monoplane > RB-1 = Dayton Wright Special Racer (1920) Rinehart-Baumann shoulder-wing monoplane racer for 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup with 250hp Hall-Scott L-6 engine, plywood-clad monocoque fuselage with variable-camber, cantilever wing; first practical retracting gear. One built. Design evolved into military XPS-1.
• K-T = K.T.1 Cabin Cruiser = Limousine (1920-21) Four-seat cabin biplane for Kettering & Talbott, another DH-4 modification with canopied cockpits from I. Driggs and O. Wright design. 400hp Liberty 12 engine. Four built. Became Rinehart-Whelan KAT.
• Army USXB-1A = XB-1A (1920) British Bristol Fighter F.2b redesigned with lighter, all-wood monocoque fuselage, 330hp Wright-Hisso H engine. Contracted by Engineering Division (McCook Field). 41 built [A. S. 64156/64193, 64300, 94107/94108, two to Navy as BuAer A5974/5975].
• Army XB-1A (1921) One example refitted with 350hp Packard 1A-1237 engine. (P-205?)
• FP-2 (1921) Four-seat cabin photographic float biplane designed for forestry patrol in Canada; triple-tail; interchangeable upper and lower wings; two 400hp Hall-Scott L-6 engines, later refitted with 420hp Liberty 12 pushers. One built [N-CAED].
• Alerte (Army XPS-1, PS-1) (1922) Pursuit-Special Alert with 175hp Lawrance-Wright J-1 engine, sported the military's first retracting gear. Three built [A. S. 68534/68536], last two with 200hp Wright E-4.
• Model W (Navy WA-1) (1922) Two-seat twin-float biplane scout for Navy, with 200hp Wright E-4 engine. One built [A6082].
• Model W (Navy WS-1) (1922) Single-float variant with 325hp Wright H-3 engine. One built [A6083].
• Model W (Navy WD-1) Scheduled variant, no details. Project cancelled.
• Navy SDW-1 (DT-2) (1922) Douglas DT-2 built under contract. Eleven built [A6085/6095], and another three built by L-W-F.
• Chummy (1922) Two-seat landplane/seaplane by V. Clark; 80hp LeRhône rotary and 120hp Clerget engine. Two built [one registered as 2644]. Rights acquired by Rinehart-Whelan.
• Army TA-3 (1922-23) Military trainer based on Chummy, with side-by-side cockpit, 80hp LeRhône (later 100hp) air-cooled ngine. 13 built [A. S. 64390/64392 and others].
• Army TA-5 (1923). Slightly larger TA-3 with 220hp Lawrance J-1 engine. One built [A. S. 68583]. Tested at McCook Field with single-wheel landing gear (P-283).
• Army TW-3 (1923) Water-cooled trainer with side-by-side cockpit, 180hp Wright-Hisso E engine. Three built [A. S. 22-401 and two more, one (c/n 28) to civilian reg. C41]. Became Consolidated TW-3, with 20 more built.
• Sedan. No data; possibly another DH-4 conversion.
• Army XO-3 (1924 ) Observation biplane with 675hp Wright T-3 engine, for Army evaluation. Later as company engine test-bed for the R-1750 Cyclone. One built [A.S. 23-221 (P-376), to civilian reg. X-1087]. Became the Wright Mohawk under the Wright Aeronautical Co. Dubbed the "Iron Horse".

NOTE: best resource on the subject is a 16-page article published in American Aviation Historical Society Journal, Winter 2011, entitled "The Other Wright Airplane Company: Dayton-Wright Airplanes."

 

[Dynoman]

Here is a picture of the Dayton Wright XO-3 that failed to achieve sales to the US Army as an observation aircraft and was later re-engined as a racing airplane following the collapse of Dayton-Wright.

 

[hesham]

That's in my Agenda about Wright and Dayton-Wright.

 

[Stargazer]

That's in my Agenda about Wright and Dayton-Wright.

You're mixing up companies.
The Wright Aeronautical Co., the Dayton-Wright Co. and the Wright Aeronautical Corp. were three totally different and unrelated entities which coexisted for while.

1st company:
1909: Creation of the Wright Co., soon incorporated as the Wright Aeronautical Co. Inc.
1912: Wilbur Wright dies.
The company develops many models, such as the A, B, B-1/2/3, BB, R, EX, C, C-H, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L and X.
1916: The company is sold to a NYC investment group and merged with both the Glenn L. Martin Co. and the Simplex Automobile Co. as the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp. of California, to build Hispano-Suiza motors under license from France. Orville Wright leaves. In its new form, the company only produces a handful of aircraft types: the Model V, the Model R and the M-8 (a contract-built Loening model).
WARNING: The so-called "Wright-Martin" KS Blue Bird / K-III Kitten was NOT related to the Wright-Martin Corp. or Glenn Martin. It was a Wright-powered product of the J. V. Martin Co.
Circa 1917: Wright-Martin takes over the General Aeronautic Co. (of America) of New York.
1919: The Wright-Martin company is dissolved.

2nd company:
1916: Orville Wright leaves Wright-Martin to co-found the Wright Field Co. in Dayton, Ohio — founders: Edward R. Deeds, Charles F. Kettering (from the Dayton Engineering Laboratory Co., a.k.a. DELCO), H. E. Talbot, H. E. Talbot, Jr. (Dayton Metal Products, Co.) and Orville Wright.
Apr 1917: The company is incorporated as the Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., Dayton, OH, with contract to build DH-4, XB-1A, and Standard J-1.
1919: The company is acquired by General Motors Corp. to become its Dayton-Wright Division.
1920: Orville Wright leaves. The company becomes the Dayton-Wright Co.
1923: Dayton-Wright ends operations; the company is dissolved, and specific rights are sold to Reuben H. Fleet (as part of Consolidated), to the Rinehart-Whelan, Wright Aeronautical and Thomas-Morse companies.

3rd company:
1920: Virginius Clark leaves Consolidated, and Orville Wright leaves Dayton-Wright. Both men restart the original Wright company as the Wright Aeronautical Corp.
1923: The company purchases part of the Dayton-Wright Co.'s assets.
Giuseppe Bellanca joins Wright Aeronautical Corp. as a consultant. The collaboration is known informally as "Wright-Bellanca", although it is not a company name. Similar hyphenates "Navy-Wright" and "Wright-Dornier" also indicate collaborations by this company.
1926: Bellanca acquires WB-2 production rights from Wright Aeronautical to form Columbia Aircraft Co.
1929: Wright Aeronautical (which now only produced engines) is merged with its arch-rival, the Curtiss Co., to create the Curtiss-Wright Co. in Saint-Louis, MO.
1931: The engine divisions of Curtiss and Wright are merged.

 

[Dynoman]

Awesome recap of the Wright companies! There was also the Wright Exhibition Company (March 1910- November 1911). Although not a manufacturing company it was organized by both Wright brothers and used to train pilots to demonstrate the Wright aircraft.

 

[hesham]

You're mixing up companies.

Thank you,but of course I know that,I only put them together.

 

[Stargazer]

A few photos of other Dayton-Wright types:

• Navy WA-1
• Navy SDW-1
• Chummy
• FS-1 First Shot
• Honeymoon Express

 

[Aubi]

My tables with key dates, factories and production for both companies:
https://www.armedconflicts.com/Dayton-Wright-Co-1919-1923-t89008https://www.armedconflicts.com/Wright-Aeronautical-Corp-1919-1929-t89152

 

[southwestforests]

O-W Aerial Coupe
a.k.a. O.W.1 Aerial Sedan (1919):
Three- to four-seat cabin biplane modified from surplus de Havilland DH-4 by Ivan Driggs and Orville Wright. 150hp Wright-Hisso A or Packard 8 engine (later 180hp Wright-Hisso E).

It looks more like a cartoon airplane than some actual cartoon airplanes do!

If I was still building stick and tissue rubber power planes this would instantly find itself on the Must Make One! list.

 

[Dynoman]

This and the one picture posted above of the Dayton Wright OX-3 are the only ones I am familiar with. The lines are very attractive with the silhouette of a Curtiss fighter and the tail with the curved balanced rudder. Are there any others out there? The aircraft received a McCook P-number, possibly P-376.

 

[Stargazer]

It looks more like a cartoon airplane than some actual cartoon airplanes do!

Would you believe? This was Orville Wright's last aircraft design (which to me proves without a doubt how vastly superior Curtiss always was over the Wrights...)

This and the one picture posted above of the Dayton Wright OX-3 are the only ones I am familiar with.

You mean XO-3, not "OX-3"...

The lines are very attractive with the silhouette of a Curtiss fighter and the tail with the curved balanced rudder. Are there any others out there? The aircraft received a McCook P-number, possibly P-376.

After researching it some more, I found that, despite being designed by Dayton-Wright, it was actually built by Wright Aeronautical after they purchased D-W's assets. To the best of my knowledge there was only one built (c/n 5). Apparently, it was first allocated Air Service serial number 23-221 in 1923, but was found unsatisfactory at McCook Field. It was therefore returned to the manufacturer for further development, and was re-evaluated in 1924 as the XO-3 (indeed as P-376, with new registration 23-1254], against the Curtiss XO-1 (23-1252/P-375) and Douglas XO-2 (23-1251/P-374). A fourth contender, the Liberty-powered Martin Model 71, or XO-4, was allocated s/n 23-1255 but was cancelled before completion of the prototype. Wright decided to name the aircraft the "Mohawk" according to a new naming scheme introduced in November that year (winds for engines, Indian tribe names for aircraft). The Army chose to procure both the Packard-powered O-1 and O-2, but rejected the O-3 and its unsatisfactory Wright T-3 "Tornado" (V-1950) engine. The aircraft was sent back to Wright Aeronautical on 30 April 1925, and proved useful there as the "Iron Horse" engine test-bed (mostly for the R-1750 "Cyclone" engine), with registration [X1087].

 

[hesham]

From Aero Journal 1920

 

[fabulousfour]

Just found this thread.

I own a photo of the Dayton-Wright XO-3 when it was a testbed with the Wright R-1750 engine.

It took quite a while then to identify this kite. I find it amazing that there is so little documentation on this type of aircraft.