Wright Model G

This article is about a military flying boat built by the Wright Company in 1913. For the development of the Wright Model B proposed for manufacture by the Burgess Company as the Model G, see Wright Model B.

The Wright Model G Aeroboat was a flying boat built in small numbers by the Wright Company in 1913. It represented an unsuccessful attempt by Wright to compete with the ubiquitous Curtiss Model F.^[1][2] One example was evaluated for U.S. Navy service,^[3][4] and allocated a naval serial number, but this did not lead to a production order. The Model G was the first aircraft to be fitted with a T-tail.^[5]

Model G Aeroboat
Role	Military flying boat
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Wright Company
Designer	Grover Loening
First flight	1913
Primary user	U.S. Navy
Developed into	Wright Model H Wright Model HS

Design

The Model G was a three-bay unstaggered biplane flying boat with equal-span wings.^[6] The pilot and a single passenger sat side-by-side in an open cockpit in the hull.^[7] A piston engine was mounted behind the cockpit, in the interplane gap, which powered two two-bladed pusher propellers via chain drives.^[7] Small stabilizer floats were mounted under the wings, initially at mid-span,^[7] but later moved to the wingtips.^[5] The horizontal stabilizer was originally mounted in a cruciform position on the fins, but later moved above them to create the first T-tail fitted to an aircraft.^[5] The Model G was originally fitted with a system of control levers, similar to earlier Wright designs, but the last ones built had control wheels that were emerging as the standard for aircraft control.^[2] The hull was built of metal.^[7]

Development

The Wright Company had previously marketed seaplanes in the form of the Wright Model C-H floatplane. However, this machine's performance both in the air and on the water had proved disappointing.^[8] At the same time, rival firm Curtiss had achieved considerable success with their Model F flying boat.^[1][2] After an informal expression of interest from the U.S. Navy in evaluating a Wright flying boat, Orville Wright set designer Grover Loening to the task of designing the aircraft.^[5] It flew for the first time in 1913, and was test-flown by Orville, Loening, and Oscar Brindley on the Great Miami River.^[8]

Other than naval use, the Wright Company marketed it for recreational flying, and also hoped to sell it as a mailplane for use in Alaska and coastal areas.^[8]

Development of the design continued as the Wright Model H and Model HS.^[9]

Operational history

The U.S. Navy purchased the first Model G built^[10] and assigned it the serial AH-19.^[11] It was tested for the Navy by Harry Atwood on Lake Erie in May 1914, and then by Lt. Harry Maxfield.^[10] Maxfield advised against purchasing the type,^[10] and no further interest by the Navy ensued.^[10][11][3]

Wright sold at least two other Model Gs: one to Atwood, and another to Ernie Hall.^[10] Captain J. William Hazelton of the New York National Guard also owned a "Wright-type flying boat" around this time, which might have been a Model G.^[10] He offered it to the Army for use in support of the Mexican Revolution, but the offer was not taken up.^[10]

On August 20, 1914, Orville Wright and passenger Lt. Kenneth Whiting narrowly escaped drowning when a Model G piloted by Wright crashed into the Great Miami River after one of its wings failed in flight.^[1]

Operators

• United States Navy

Specifications

Data from Hallion 2019, p.69

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 1 passenger
• Length: 28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
• Wingspan: 38 ft 0 in (11.58 m)
• Height: 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m)
• Wing area: 432 sq ft (40.1 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,200 lb (544 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,800 lb (816 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Wright 6-60 six-cylinder, water-cooled, inline engine, 60 hp (45 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 60 mph (97 km/h, 52 kn) (estimated)