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1910 Wright Model B
The Wright Model B, produced from 1910 to 1914, was a popular aircraft used for training and exhibition flying. During 1911 and 1912, the Wright Company was shipping four Model Bs a month out the factory door. It was the first of the Wright Brothers’ designs to be built in quantity, and was sold to the U.S. government for training and flown at College Park.
Specs
Year: 1910 (reproduction)
Capacity: One pilot, one passenger
Empty weight: 950 pounds
Wingspan: 38 feet, 6 inches
Take-off speed: 27 mph
Cruising speed: 40 mph
Range: 110 mi.
Engine: 30-35 horsepower 4-cylinder water-cooled Wright engine
Propellers: Twin counter-rotating 8 feet, 6 inch propellers (428 rotations per minute)
From the 1903 Flyer to the Wright B
After four years of courting, negotiating, building, and testing, the U.S. Army agreed to purchase a Wright aeroplane in August 1909. The original Wright Flyer, built and flown at Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903, had several variations as the Wright Brothers continuously tested and improved their designs. For the military trials at Ft. Meyer in 1908, Orville Wright demonstrated the Wright Model A for the U.S. Army. An unfortunate crash killed his passenger Lt. Selfridge, badly injured Orville, and damaged the plane. A year later, in 1909, the Wrights brought a Military Flyer back to Ft Meyer to finish the trials. This was the aeroplane the Army purchased (named "Signal Corp #1"), and was the first aircraft flown by the Army at College Park. In the fall of 1909, Wilbur Wright taught two Army officers, Lt.'s Frank P. Lahm and Frederic E. Humphreys, to fly. Within a few months, the officers had soloed. A fateful flight on November 5, 1909 crashed the Military Flyer, and flying ceased at College Park until 1911. The Military Flyer was repaired but eventually retired and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1911, Congress released funding for the U.S. Army Signal Corps for an aeronautics program. The Signal Corps returned to College Park and purchased 2 Wright B aeroplanes ("Signal Corps #3 and #4), 2 Curtiss aeroplanes ("Signal Corp #2 and #6"), and 1 Burgess-Wright aeroplane ("Signal Corp #5").
Signal Corps #1: Wright Military Flyer
Signal Corps #2: Curtiss D
Signal Corps #3: Wright Model B
Signal Corps #4: Wright Model B
Signal Corps #5: Burgess F (Wright B built by Burgess Company)
Signal Corps #6: Curtiss E "Scout"
Signal Corp #3 and #4
In early 1911, the Army Aviation School purchased 2 Wright B aeroplanes for the College Park Airfield and designated them Signal Corps #3 and #4. These planes were very similar to the 1909 Wright Military Flyer (Signal Corps #1) but show the slow evolution of early aviation.
The Wright B had the same control and aircraft configuration as the Model A--the stick controls, engine, propellers, and wing shape were the same. However, one change made was the relocation of the elevator from the front to the rear of the aeroplane--the aircraft was initially called the "headless Wright" because the familiar front canard/elevator was absent. This change improved the pilot’s ability to control pitch (up-down), but the structure also increased drag and made the plane prone to stall (lose lift). Wheels were also added to the undercarriage of the plane, so the plane could take off without aide from a rail, compared to earlier Wright airplanes which used a tower-and-weight-drop catapult to launch the aircraft. A more powerful engine helped the Model B generate the power needed to takeoff.
Overall, the Wright Model B was stronger, easier to control, easier to launch, and slightly faster than earlier Wright aircraft.
The Model B was equipped with dual controls: the pilot operated the elevator control in the left seat with his left hand while with his right hand he operated the rudder and wing-warping control, located between the two pilots. This arrangement was reversed for the pilot in the right seat, resulting in what was referred to as right- and left-handed pilots. This problem was corrected in 1912 with the installation of an additional rudder/wing-warping control lever, giving both seats identical controls.
Many early aviation firsts happened in a Wright B, and many of those at College Park during the Army Signal Corps Aviation School residence from 1911-1913.
First aerial weaponry: On June 7, June 1912 , Capt. Charles D. Chandler test-fired a Lewis machine gun in flight over College Park with Thomas D. Milling piloting a Wright B. This test was part of an overall debate on the uses of aircraft in warfare.
First aerial bomb device: Lieut. Riley Scott visited the Signal Corps Aviation School in 1911 to ask for their help in testing his “Aero Bomb," a proto bomb sight which was strapped to the bottom of a Wright Model B.
First enlisted man to die in an aviation crash: A fateful flight on September 28, 1912 led to the death of the first enlisted man. Lt. Lewis Rockwell invited Corporal Frank Scott to fly as a passenger in a Wright B (Signal Corp #4) to fulfill his final Military Rating requirement. An uncontrolled dive crashed the plane and killed both men. Lt Rockwell became the fourth Army officer to give his life for aviation, and Corporal Scott the first enlisted man (as well as the first enlisted man to be buried in Arlington Cemetery). Scott Field in Illinois is named after him
Our Model B: A reproduction
The Museum’s Wright Model B reproduction was constructed by Ken Hyde and others at the Virginia Aviation and Machine Company of Warrenton, Virginia. It was built to the standards of the original, using the same materials, construction techniques, and finishes as those employed by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The only exceptions are a non-operating engine and the covering of a balloon cotton fabric as opposed to the original rubberized fabric.
Frequently Asked Questions: Wright B
No. This is a replica, built by Ken Hyde and others at the Virginia Aviation and Machine Company of Warrenton, Virginia. It was built to the standards of the original, using the same materials, construction techniques, and finishes as those employed by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The only exceptions are a non-operating engine and the covering of a balloon cotton fabric as opposed to the original rubberized fabric. Our aircraft is used for tours and demonstrations, to show how the Wright B could be controlled. The elevator, rudder, and wing warping movements are functional. Our reproduction was recently (2024) repaired by our friends at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. The elevator was repaired and the gas tank was reinstalled.
This plane cannot fly, its engine was purposely built to be nonoperating.
The Wrights made engines for their airplanes. Wright engines, including this one, were gasoline-fueled. Gasoline was gravity fed from a tank mounted below the upper wing, slightly above the engine.
Probably spruce and ash.
At least for their earlier planes, the Wrights used spruce and ash. They chose to make the straight parts of their airplane (such as the spars and struts) from red spruce (picea rubens), a tree that grew in the high reaches of the Appalachian mountains. The wood from this tree was very light, but extremely strong for its weight. However, it was not a good wood to bend. For the bent parts of their airplane (such as the ribs), the Wrights used white ash (fraxinus Americana). Ash is 50% heavier than spruce, but it’s much easier to bend. More important, it retains most of its strength when bent.
The airplane took off at 27mph and cruised at approximately 40mph.
Flight takeoff minimum speed was probably around 30mph. The minimum for their 1904 Flyer was 27-28 mph, which led them to develop the catapult. With added weight in later models, takeoff speed might have been slightly higher.
In August 1908, Orville Wright circled Fort Myer's parade ground in the Wright Model A, but he was seriously injured when the plane crashed. Another plane was rebuilt and shipped to Ft. Meyers—the Wright Military Flyer. The Wright Military Flyer (Signal Corps #1) was bought by the Army and used by Wilbur Wright to teach Lt.'s Lahm and Humphries to fly in the fall of 1909 at College Park. It was damaged in a crash-landing November 1909, and flying at the field ceased until 1911. However, during this training, Wilbur experimented with a horizontal surface in the rear of the aircraft to increase pitch stability, as Orville was doing in Germany. These experiments would eventually lead to the Wright Model B.
Basically, for the Wright Model B, the Wrights put wheels on instead of skids, and moved the elevator to the back, which made the aircraft more controllable but also more prone to stall (and therefore dangerous). Overall, though, the Wright Model B was stronger, easier to control, easier to launch, and slightly faster than earlier Wright aircraft.
Approximately 100 Wright Model B's were made, if you count variants. The Wright brothers sold 2 to the U.S. Army Signal Corp to fly at College Park, renamed Signal Corps #3 and #4. Other variants were sold to the U.S. Navy as hydroplanes for training, and to civilians as hydroplanes. Licenses to build and sell the Wright B were sold and the plane was built by the Burgess Company domestically and in Germany—most of the approximately one hundred Model Bs produced were actually built by Burgess. (Signal Corps #5 was bought and flown at College Park. It was the Burgess F, a Model B variant built and sold by Burgess Company).
The Wright B was built with wheels, unlike the previous version Military Flyer.
Wheels were added to the undercarriage of the plane, so the plane could take off without aide from a rail. A more powerful engine helped the Model B generate the power needed to takeoff. Earlier Wright airplanes used a tower-and-weight-drop catapult to launch the craft.
Sometime during the summer of 1910, the Wrights also added wheels to their Model AB ( a transitional model) possibly after reading reports from Lt. Benjamin Foulois who had installed wheels on the Military Flyer. When they introduced their new airplane design, the Model B, that fall, it had wheels, and was the first of their aircraft to have a conventional tail and landing gear.
Yes—sort of, and eventually.
By 1909, Glen Curtiss was designing his airplanes with an alternative approach to wing-warping: ailerons. The Wrights believed than any sort of wing manipulation was an infringement on their patent, so sued Curtiss. In a series of court filings, Curtiss argued that his aileron system was fundamentally different than the Wright’s wing-warping, and filed for patents of his own. After a long drawn-out court battle, in 1913, the Orville Wright (Wilbur had since died, his family blamed Curtiss and the patent wars) won, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Curtiss to stop making aircraft with a pair of ailerons that performed simultaneously in opposite directions.
However, By the time the US Courts awarded the Wright Company victory in its patent suit against Curtiss in 1914, it no longer mattered. The Wright designs had stagnated technologically and were no longer relevant. In October 1915, Orville sold the Wright Company to a group of financiers for $1.5 million.
By 1917, the Wright Company and the Curtiss Company held nearly all the patents for aircraft manufacturing in the US, which produced a near-monopoly for the two. During WWI, the government forced them into a consortium to work together to produce airplanes quickly. hat arrangement lasted until the patents expired. In 1929, the Wright Company was bought by its arch-rival, Curtiss, and became Curtiss-Wright.
More visitor information
Plan your visit
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm
Closed Mondays and holidays
About the museum
College Park Airport is the world's oldest continuously-operating airport, open since 1909.
The College Park Aviation Museum preserves and shares the exciting history of the airport, this "Field of Firsts."
Tours and Groups
The museum offers guided tours for schools and groups of 10 or more.