Template:Infobox Aircraft

The Wright Model A was an early aircraft produced by the Wright Brothers in the United States beginning in 1906. It was an outgrowth of their Flyer III airplane of 1905. The Wrights actually built about seven Model As in their bicycle shop during their interim period 1906-1907 in which they did no flying. One of these was shipped to Le Havre in 1907 in anticipation of it being demonstrated for the French. The Model A had a 35 horsepower engine and seating for two with new control arrangement. Otherwise it was identical to the 1905 airplane. The Model A was the first aircraft that they offered for sale, and the first aircraft design to enter serial production anywhere in the world. Apart from the seven machines the Wrights built themselves in 1906-1907, they sold licences for production in Europe, with the largest number of Model As actually being produced in Germany by Flugmaschine Wright GmbH, which built about 60 examples.^[1]

The 1909 Military Flyer was a one of a kind Model A built by the Wright Brothers. With wings shortened two feet and the same engine salvaged from the wrecked 1908 Fort Myer Flyer, it differed from the standard Wright A in size and had a faster speed. The aircraft was demonstrated successfully at Fort Myer, Virginia June 28, 1909^[2] for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which offered a contract of $25,000 for an aircraft capable of flying at 40 mph (64 km/h) with two people on board for a distance of 125 miles (200 km). After rigid trials the Signal Corps accepted the airplane, August 2, 1909^[2], paying the brothers $30,000^[3].

Survivors

• The original Wright Military Model A plane is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC^[4]. It is displayed in much the original condition as when the Smithsonian received it in 1911.
• The only original standard model A to survive, and the sole surviving original Dayton built example, is the one Orville Wright used to demonstrate at Tempelhof, Germany in 1909. It resides in the Deutsches Museum, Munich.
• An exact reproduction of the 1909 Military Flyer is on display in the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This reproduction was constructed in 1955 by Museum personnel. It is equipped with an original engine personally donated for the reproduction by Orville Wright, while the chains, sprockets, and propellers were all donated by the heirs of the Wright estate, and have been added to the replica as they have been received and restored.

Specifications (Wright Military Flyer)

Data from "US Army Aircraft 1908-1946" by James C. Fahey, 1946, 64pp.

General characteristics

• Crew: Two

Performance