Wright Model A

The aircraft were not referred to as 'Model A' by the Wrights, but the term was likely created by the U.S. Army after purchasing a Flyer of 1909 and purchasing later Model B's. At different times prior to 1909 the aircraft were called the following: 'Wilbur Wright machine', 'Wright 1905 Flyer', and by later surviving Wright pilots and personnel 'twin-propellered Wright with head' ('the head' referring to the front elevator). As more Wright models were built after 1910 their natural designations became B, C, D etc. to differentiate one model from the other. Later aviation historians and biographers continued with 'Model A' in providing a chronological timeline for each of the different model of Wright aircraft.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

File:Wright movie still.jpg

Wilbur and Orville Wright devised slightly different flight controls in the Model A airplanes they flew separately in France and the United States for their 1908 and 1909 public demonstrations. The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum refers to "The Wilbur Method" and "The Orville Method". In the Wilbur Method, the roll and yaw controls were combined on the same lever at the pilot's right hand. A forward-backward movement controlled the rudder, while a sideways or left-and-right motion controlled wing-warping. In the Orville Method, moving the stick controlled wing-warping, while a knob atop the stick controlled the rudder. In both methods the left-hand lever operated the forward elevator to control pitch. Wilbur trained French and Italian pilots using his method, and Orville trained German pilots while in Germany in 1909 for the Wright GmbH as well as American pilots at the Wright Company flight school using his method.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

File:Orville Wright&flyer1909.jpg, Munich, Germany.]]

• Wright Flyer III was itself the prototype in 1908. Flyer III was restored in the late 1940s back into its original 1905 configuration.
• The original Wright Military Model A plane (Signal Corps No. 1) is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC."United States Military Aircraft Since 1909" by F. G. Swanborough, 1964, 596 pp. S.C. No. 1 had been significantly modified by the addition of wheels for landing gear and the movement of the elevators, but was restored by the Wright Company to its original configuration before donation to the museum. It is displayed in much the original condition as when the Smithsonian received it in October 1911. The aircraft was displayed in the National History Museum, then protected in Luray, Virginia during WWII, and is now in the Early Flight gallery in the Air and Space Museum.{{cite book|title=Smithsonian Air and Space Museum an Autobiography|page=76|author=Michael Neufield and Alex Spencer}}
• The only original standard Model A to survive, and the sole surviving original Dayton-built example, is the one Orville Wright used to demonstrate at Tempelhof, Germany, in September 1909. It resides in the Deutsches Museum, Munich.{{cite web |title=Wright Standard Type A, 1909 |url=http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/collections/transport/aeronautics/propeller-planes/up-to-1918/wright-biplane |website=Deutsches Museum |access-date=14 January 2020 |archive-date=19 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619105159/http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/collections/transport/aeronautics/propeller-planes/up-to-1918/wright-biplane |url-status=dead }}

• An exact reproduction of the 1909 Military Flyer is on display in the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This reproduction was constructed in 1955 by museum personnel. It is equipped with an original engine personally donated for the reproduction by Orville Wright, while the chains, sprockets, and propellers were all donated by the heirs of the Wright estate, and have been added to the replica as they have been received and restored.United States Air Force Museum (1975 edition)
• In 2008 Ken Hyde built an exact replica of the original 1908 Wright Military Flyer which itself was one of the Dayton 7. This was for the 100th anniversary and remembrance of Orville Wright's first trip to Fort Myer and also the death of Thomas Selfridge. Hyde has said in press reports that his reproduction is flyable but for now it will only exist in static display.

File:Wright Military Flyer arrives at Fort Myer VA DA-SD-05-00659.JPEG

;{{flag|United States of America|1896}}

• Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=US Army Aircraft 1908–1946{{cite book |last1=Fahey |first1=James C. |title=US Army Aircraft |year=1946 |publisher=Ships & Aircraft Ltd |location=New York }}

|prime units?=imp

|crew=2

|length ft=30

|length in=8

|length note=

|span ft=36

|span in=5

|span note=

|height ft=8

|height in=0

|height note=

|wing area sqft=

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|airfoil=

|empty weight lb=740

|empty weight note=

|gross weight lb=1263

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|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Wright Vertical 4

|eng1 type=4-cylinder water-cooled in-line piston engine

|eng1 hp=35

|eng1 note=

|prop blade number=2

|prop name=Painted spruce elliptical propellers

|prop dia ft=8

|prop dia in=8

|prop dia note=(2 of, rotating in opposite directions)

|max speed mph=42

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|never exceed speed mph=

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{{Portal|Aviation}}

{{Aircontent|

|related=

• British Army Aeroplane No 1 – designed and built by Samuel Cody (1908)
• 1902 Glider
• Wright Flyer
• Flyer II
• Flyer III
• Wright Model B
• Early flying machines

}}

;Notes

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;Bibliography

• [http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/types/usa/wright/flyer/flyer.htm aeroflight.co.uk]
• United States Air Force Museum (1975 edition)

{{commons category|Wright Model A}}

• [https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1909-wright-military-flyer 1909 Wright Military Flyer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212232423/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1909-wright-military-flyer |date=2020-02-12 }}, National Air and Space Museum collections database
• [https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196762/wright-1909-military-flyer/ Replica at the National Museum of the United States Air Force]
• [http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/FEATURE-Wright-engine.html# Under the Hood of a Wright Flyer] Smithsonian online version of magazine November 1, 2006
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YdptInW0TI Engine start Youtube video of Ken Hyde's] reproduction 1908 Wright Model A Military Flyer.
• [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/chrono/log/1908HunaudieresRaceCourse.htm Wright Brother Flight Logs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920210532/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/chrono/log/1908HunaudieresRaceCourse.htm |date=2012-09-20 }}

{{Wright aircraft}}

Category:1900s United States experimental aircraft

Model A

Category:Single-engined twin-prop pusher aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1908