Engineering:Wright Model K
| Model K | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Military floatplane |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Wright Company |
| Designer | Grover Loening |
| Management and usage | U.S. Navy |
| History | |
| First flight | 1915 |
The Wright Model K was a prototype floatplane built by the Wright Company in 1914 and sold to the U.S. Navy.[1][2][3] Its layout was generally similar to the Wright Model F:[4] a typical Wright-style wing cellule and powerplant installation combined with a more modern fuselage design.
The Model K was the first Wright design to use ailerons instead of wing warping,[2][3] and the first to feature tractor propellers.[2][3] It was also the last Wright design to feature the wing and engine configuration that had been used on every Wright aircraft from Flyer I onwards, and the last sale by the company to the U.S. military.[3][5]
Design
The Model K was a three-bay unstaggered biplane with equal-span wings.The pilot and observer sat in tandem in open cockpits. A piston engine was mounted in the nose, which powered two two-bladed propellers via chain drives.[1] Unlike previous Wright designs, these propellers were mounted tractor-fashion, and higher in the interplane gap.[2] The empennage was arranged as a conventional tail, with an almost circular fin and rudder.[2] The Model K was equipped with two long, pontoon-style floats.
Development
In March 1915, the U.S. Navy invited submissions from fourteen aircraft manufacturers, including Wright, for nine seaplanes.[3] The specifications required by the Navy included that propellers be mounted tractor-wise, and that ailerons be used for directional control.[3] Both of these were a departure from the way Wright had been building aircraft, but the Model K incorporated these features.[3]
Operational history
The U.S. Navy purchased the prototype Model K[1][3] and assigned it the serial AH-23 (later, A51).[5][6] No order for further production resulted, and this, the only Model K ever built, was removed from service in February 1917.[6]
Operators
- United States Navy
Specifications
Data from Hallion 2019, p.71
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
- Wingspan: 38 ft 7 in (11.76 m)
- Height: 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
- Wing area: 450 sq ft (42 m2) (estimated)
- Empty weight: 850 lb (386 kg)
- Gross weight: 1,150 lb (522 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Wright 6-60 six-cylinder, water-cooled, inline engine, 60 hp (45 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 80 mph (130 km/h, 70 kn) (estimated)
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Hallion, Richard P. (2019). The Wright Flyers 1899–1916. Oxford: Osprey.
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing.
- MacFarland, Marvin W. (1953). The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Including the Chanute-Wright Letters and Other Papers of Octave Chanute: Volume Two 1906–1948. New York: MacGraw–Hill.
- Roach, Edward J. (2014). The Wright Company: From Invention to Industry. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
- Swanborough, Gordon; Bowers, Peter M. (1990). United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911. London: Putnam.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1993). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
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