Wright Model E
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| name=Wright Model E | image=Wright Model E, quarter view inflight, Simms Station near Dayton, Ohio, 1913. (10479 A.S.).jpg | caption=Wright Model E, over Simms Station near Dayton, Ohio, 1913 }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Biplane | national origin=United States of America | manufacturer=Wright Company | designer=Wright brothers | first flight=1913 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=1 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Wright Model E was the first in the series of Wright Flyers that used a single propeller{{cite web|title=1913 Wright Model E|url=http://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Airplanes/Model_E.htm|accessdate=3 Feb 2011}} The aircraft was also the test demonstrator for the first automatic pilot control.
Design
The Model E featured 24 inch tires. It was flown with four and six cylinder Wright engines.
The model E was fitted with a prototype autopilot that used a wind driven generator and pendulums to drive the wing warping controls. The design was quickly eclipsed by a gyroscopic autopilot developed by Lawrence Sperry for the competing Curtiss Aeroplane Company.{{cite book|title=The Bishop's boys: a life of Wilbur and Orville Wright|author=Tom D. Crouch}}
Operational history
On 31 December 1913, Orville Wright demonstrated a Model E with an "automatic stabilizer" flying seven circuits around Huffman Prairie field with his hands above his head.{{cite news|newspaper=New York Times|title=Wright Automatic Stabilizer|date=6 January 1914}}
The Model E demonstrations earned the Wright Brothers the 1913 Collier Trophy from Aero Club of America.
Albert Elton (1881–1975) purchased the sole Wright Model E for exhibition flights.{{cite journal|journal=American Aviation Historical Society Journal |volume=9-11|author=American Aviation Historical Society}}
Specifications (Wright Model E)
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References
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{{Wright aircraft}}
Category:1910s United States sport aircraft