Existing comment:
The Wright B:
Following the successful military training flights of 1909 at the College Park Airfield, the government finally approved additional money for aeronautics. In March of 1911, $125,000 was made available, and two Wright Bs, two Curtiss aeros, and a Burgess Wright were ordered for the newly established Signal Corps Aviation School to be located at the airfield.
The Wright B was quite different from the Wright A Military aeroplane. It had wheels mounted on its undercarriage, and, with a more powerful engine, it no longer required the monorail and catapult for launching. The B was also attractive in its symmetry and linear quality, where the Military Flyer was both simple and more straightforward. It was the Wright's first truly "mass produced" aeroplane.
Lieutenants Henry "Hap" Arnold and Thomas Dewitt Milling received training on the Wright B at the Wright school in Dayton, Ohio and arrived at College Park in June on 1911 to begin instructing their first students. They immediately began instruction of the Aviation School's commanding officer, Capt. Charles DeForrest Chandler, and Lieut. Roy Kirkland, who had supervised the establishment of the flying school a few months earlier.
Within the first month, Arnold and Milling made over 127 flights in the Wright B. This was just the start of months of attention getting flights made by this aircraft. In these early days of aviation, every flight was a novelty, that merited front page coverage and further cemented America's fascination with the aeroplane. |