Wright Model L
{{Short description|American military biplane of 1916 }}
{{Use mdy dates |date=April 2025 }}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025 }}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
|name=Model L |image=File:Wright Model L Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering August 1,1916.jpg |caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type |type=Military reconnaissance aircraft |national origin=United States |manufacturer=Wright Company |designer= |first flight=1916 |introduced= |retired= |status= |primary user= |number built= |developed from= |variants with their own articles= |developed into= }} |
The Wright Model L was a prototype high-speed reconnaissance aircraft built by the Wright Company in 1916 to meet a specification by the U.S. military.MacFarland 1953, p.1210 It bore no resemblance to previous Wright designs.Hallion 2019, p.72Roach 2015, p.110{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (1985, p.3098) describes the aircraft as a single-seat development of the Wright Model F. This is inconsistent with the various other sources cited here, as well as with photographs of the two types.}} Already obsolete compared to European military aircraft of the time,Hallion 2019, p.71Roach 2015, p.111 it attracted no orders, and only the single prototype was built.
By the time it was brought to market, Orville Wright had already left the company. It would be the last aircraft built by the Wright Company before it merged with the Glenn L. Martin Company, and the last Wright aircraft built at Dayton.
Design
The Model L was a two-bay unstaggered biplane with equal-span wings.MacFarland 1953, p.1209 The pilot in an open cockpit.MacFarland 1953, p.1209 A piston engine was mounted in the nose, which drove a tractor propeller mounted directly to it. It had a conventional tail and was fitted with fixed, tailskid undercarriage. Directional control was provided via ailerons. Aviation historian Ricchard P. Hallion described it as the "antithesis" of established Wright design.
Specifications
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|ref=Hallion 2019, p.72
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Notes
{{Commons category}}
=References=
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book |last=Hallion |first=Richard P. |title=The Wright Flyers 1899–1916 |publisher=Osprey |location=Oxford |year=2019 }}
- {{cite book |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft |publisher=Aerospace Publishing|location=London }}
- {{cite book |last=MacFarland |first=Marvin W. |title=The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Including the Chanute-Wright Letters and Other Papers of Octave Chanute: Volume Two 1906–1948 |publisher=MacGraw–Hill |location=New York |year=1953 }}
- {{cite book |last=Roach |first=Edward J. |title=The Wright Company: From Invention to Industry |publisher=Ohio University Press |location=Athens, OH |year=2014 }}
- {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1993 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London }}
{{Wright aircraft}}
Category:1910s United States military reconnaissance aircraft
Category:Conventional-tail aircraft
Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft