Engineering:Dayton-Wright Cabin Cruiser

KT Cabin Cruiser
Role	Three-seat touring aircraft
Manufacturer	Dayton-Wright Airplane Company
First flight	1921
Developed from	de Havilland DH.4

The Dayton-Wright KT Cabin Cruiser was a 1920s United States three-seat touring aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company in Dayton, Ohio. Often known as the "Honeymoon Express", it was one of several civilian aircraft the company developed from the de Havilland DH.4.

Design and development

The Dayton-Wright Airplane Company had built 3,106 de Havilland DH.4s under license during the First World War. After the war ended, the company looked to develop civil transports. The resulting KT Cabin Cruiser was a standard production DH.4 with a glazed enclosure for two passengers in tandem-seat configuration in the front, and a pilot in the rear, under a continuous glazed canopy. Because of the intimate side-by-side accommodations for the front passengers the aircraft was popularly known as the "Honeymoon Express". Another more basic conversion from the DH.4 was the Nine-Hour Cruiser which retained the open cockpit with room for two passengers behind, but had an increased fuel load.

Specifications (KT Cabin Cruiser)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985).

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Length: 30 ft 1.5 in (9.18 m)
• Wingspan: 43 ft 7.5 in (13.30 m)
• Height: 11 ft 2.5 in (3.42 m)
• Wing area: 441.09 sq ft (40.98 m²)
• Empty weight: 2,686 lb (1,218 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 4,128 lb (1,872 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Liberty 12 inline piston, 420 hp (313 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 120 mph (193 km/h, 100 kn)

Armament

• Guns: one 0.293 in (7.45 mm) machine-gun

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe

References

Bibliography

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.