Wright Aeronautical

Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey.^[1] It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin.^[1] It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the golden age of aviation.^[1] Wright engines were used by Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh.^[1] In 1929, the company merged with Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation to form Curtiss-Wright.^[1][2]

Wright Aeronautical

Predecessor	Wright-Martin
Founded	1919 (1919)
Defunct	1929 (1929) (remained a division)
Fate	Merged
Successor	Curtiss-Wright
Key people	Charles Lawrance
Parent	Curtiss-Wright (after 1929)

History

Wright Aeronautical building, November 2014

In 1916, the Wright brothers' original aviation firm, the Wright Company, merged with Glenn L. Martin's firm, the Glenn L. Martin Company of California, to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation.^[1] In September 1917, Martin resigned from Wright-Martin and re-formed an independent Glenn L. Martin Company of Ohio (later of Maryland). After World War I in 1919, Wright-Martin was renamed Wright Aeronautical.^[1][2] It moved to Paterson, New Jersey in 1919.^[1]

In February 1919, an airplane with a Wright engine broke the world's speed record at 163+2⁄3 miles (263.4 km) per hour.^[3] In November 1920, an airplane with a 300-horsepower Wright engine came in second place in the first Pulitzer Trophy Race in Long Island, New York.^[3] Other planes using Wright engines came in fourth and fifth place in the race.^[3]

In 1920, Wright produced a cannon engine for the Army that allowed shells to be fired through the airplane's propeller.^[3] In 1921, a 300 horsepower engine by Wright again came in second place at the Pulitzer Trophy Race in Omaha, Nebraska.^[3] In 1921, Wright developed a new six-cylinder dirigible engine with 400 horsepower, testing it for nine months.^[3] In 1922, a plane with a Wright H-2 engine won the Mitchell Trophy Race.^[3]

In May 1923, Wright Aeronautical purchased the Lawrance Aero Engine Company, acquiring Charles Lawrance's J-1 radial engine.^[4][1][5] Lawrance became a vice president of Wright.^[1] In 1925, Wright's president, Frederick B. Rentschler, left the company to found Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company; Lawrance replaced him as company president.^[5] Rentschler poached several talented personnel from Wright to join his new firm.

Working off Lawrance's designs, Wright Aeronautical developed an air-cooled engine, the Model J Whirlwind series.^[1][6][3] In 1925, a Wright-Bellanca airplane won the Pulitzer Trophy Race using a Wright Whirlwind engine.^[3] In 1927, a Wright J-5C Whirlwind engine was used by Charles Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis when he flew from New York City to Paris.^[1][5][7] Wright engines were also used by other famed aviators, including Richard E. Byrd, Clarence Chamberlin, and Amelia Earhart.^[1]

Wright Aeronautical merged with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company on July 5, 1929, to become the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.^[1][2] Their engine divisions merged in 1931.^[5]

During World War II, the Paterson plant had 24,000 employees, working in three daily shifts.^[8] They made some 75,000 engines for the B-25, the Boeing B-17, and other aircraft.^[8] Wright also made engines for 44 commercial airlines and rocket engines for space travel.^[8] However, the Paterson plant closed in 1946.^[8]

Products

The Wright name on the rocker cover of one of their radial engines

Aircraft

Model name	First flight	Number built	Type	Reference
Wright Vought				[3]
Wright Apache	1926		biplane	[3]
Wright F2W	1923	2	Single-engine biplane racer
Dayton-Wright XO-3		1	Single-engine biplane observation airplane
Wright XF3W	1926	1	Single-engine biplane racer
Navy-Wright NW-1	1922	2	Single-engine monoplane racer
Navy-Wright NW-2	1922	1	Single-engine biplane racer
Wright-Bellanca WB-1	1925	1	Single-engine monoplane utility airplane	[3]
Wright-Bellanca WB-2 Columbia	1926	1	Single-engine monoplane utility airplane
Bellanca 77-140 Bomber	1934		Twin-engine monoplane bomber
Wright WP-1	1922	1	License built single-engine monoplane fighter

Wright R-1820

Wright R-2600

Wright J65

Aircraft engines

Model name	Introduced	Type	Horsepower	Cooling	Reference
Wright A	circa 1919	V-8	150	water	[9][10]
Wright B		V-4	75	water	[10]
Wright C		V-8	200	water	[10]
Wright D		V-8	200	water	[10]
Wright D-1	1920	L-6	350	water	[6]
Wright E	1919	V-8	150 hp	water	[11][10]
Wright E-1M Hurricane	1925 - 1926	V-8	240	marine	[6][11]
Wright E-2	Before 1921	V-8	180	water	[9][3][11]
Wright E-3		V-8	189	water	[10]
Wright E-4 Tempest	1922 - 1923	V-8	200	water	[3][6][11]
Wright E-4M Gold Cup		V-8	200-240	marine	[3][11]
Wright F		V-9	150	water	[10][12]
Wright H	1920		300	water	[9][3]
Wright H-2	1920	V-8	320	water	[9][6]
Wright H-2 Super Fighter	Before 1921		360	water	[9]
Wright H-3	Before 1921	V-8	300	water	[9][3][13]
Wright H-3 Super Fighter	Before 1921		360	water	[9]
Wright I	1920		150	water	[9][3]
Wright J-I	1923			air	[3]
Wright J-3	1924	R-9	200	air	[3][6]
Wright J-4 Whirlwind	1924	R-9	200	air	[3][6]
Wright J-4B Whirlwind	1925	R-9	200	air	[6]
Wright J-5 Whirlwind / Wright R-790	1925 - 1926	R-9	200	air	[6][14][15][2]
Wright J-6 Whirlwind 5 / Wright R-540	1928 - 1930	R-5	165-175	air	[3][16][6]
Wright J-6 Whirlwind 7 / Wright R-760	1925	R-7	225-320	air	[3][16][6]
Wright J-6 Whirlwind 9 / Wright R-975	1928	R-9	300-420	air	[3][16][6]
Wright J-6 Cyclone	circa 1928		525	air	[3]
Wright K				water	[10]
Wright K-2				water	[10]
Wright L-3 Gale	circa 1923	R-3	60	air	[17]
Wright L-4 Gale	circa 1923	R-3	60	air	[3]
Wright P-1	1925	R-9	406	air	[6][3]
Wright P-2	1925 - 1926	R-9	435	air	[6]
Wright R-1	1920 - 1923	R-9	350	air	[3][6]
Wright R-1200 Simoon	1925 - 1926	R-9	325	air	[3][6]
Wright R-1300 Cyclone	1939	R-7	600	air	[6]
Wright R-1510 Whirlwind	1933	R-14	600	air	[18]
Wright R-1670 Whirlwind	circa 1935	R-14	800	air	[18]
Wright R-1750 Cyclone	1927 - 1930	R-9	525	air	[3][6]
Wright R-1820 Cyclone	1931	R-9	1,000	air	[19]
Wright R-2160 Tornado	1940	R-42	2,350	air	[20]
Wright R-2600	1937	R-14	1,750	air	[21]
Wright R-3350 Cyclone	1937	R-18	2,200	air	[22]
Wright R-4090 Cyclone	1940s	R-22	3,000	air	[23]
Wright T		V-12	525	water	[3]
Wright T-1 Tornado		V-12	600	water	[3]
Wright T-1M Typhoon	1924	V-12	500	marine	[6]
Wright T-2 Tornado	1922 - 1923	V-12	525	water	[3][6]
Wright T-3 Tornado / Wright V-1950	1923	V-12	675	water	[3][6]
Wright T-3A	1924 - 1925	V-12	525	water	[6]
Wright T-3M Typhoon			600	marine	[3]
Wright V-1460	1928	V-12	600	liquid or air	[6][24]
Wright V-1560	1929 - 1930	V-12	600	air	[6]
Wright Gipsy	1929 - 1931	L-4	85	air	[6]
Wright-Gipsy L-320	1927	L-4	98	air	[25][26]
Wright Morehouse WM-80	1926	O-2	29	air	[6]
Wright J65	1951	Turbojet	7,239 lbf		[27]
Wright J67	1950s, not produced	Turbojet	est. 15,000 lbf
Wright TJ32
Wright TJ38 Zephur	not produced	Turbojet

See also

• Wright Company
• Curtiss-Wright