Wright Model G

{{Short description|American military flying boat of 1913 }} {{About |a military flying boat built by the Wright Company in 1913 |the development of the Wright Model B proposed for manufacture by the Burgess Company as the Model G |Wright Model B}} {{Use mdy dates |date=April 2025 }} {{Use American English|date=April 2025 }}  {{Infobox aircraft | name = Model G Aeroboat | logo = | logo_size = | image = File:Wright Model G pic2.jpg | alt = | caption = | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = Military flying boat | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = United States | manufacturer = Wright Company | design_group = | designer = Grover Loening | builder = | issuer = | status = | owners = | primary_user = U.S. Navy | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = | first_flight = 1913 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = Wright Model H<br/>Wright Model HS | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }}

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.<ref name="hallion69">Hallion 2019, p.69</ref><ref name="roach107">Roach 2015, p.107</ref> One example was evaluated for U.S. Navy service,<ref name="jea">Taylor 1992, p.898</ref><ref name="iea">''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' 1985, p.3098</ref> 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.<ref name="hallion68">Hallion 2019, p.68</ref>

==Design== The Model G was a three-bay unstaggered biplane flying boat with equal-span wings.<ref name="flight57">The 60 H.P. Wright Aero-Boat 1914, p.57</ref> The pilot and a single passenger sat side-by-side in an open cockpit in the hull.<ref name="flight56">The 60 H.P. Wright Aero-Boat 1914, p.56</ref> A piston engine was mounted behind the cockpit, in the interplane gap, which powered two two-bladed pusher propellers via chain drives.<ref name="flight56"/> Small stabilizer floats were mounted under the wings, initially at mid-span,<ref name="flight56"/> but later moved to the wingtips.<ref name="hallion68"/> 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.<ref name="hallion68"/> 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.<ref name="roach107"/> The hull was built of metal.<ref name="flight56"/>

==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.<ref name="roach106"/> At the same time, rival firm Curtiss had achieved considerable success with their Model F flying boat.<ref name="hallion69"/><ref name="roach107"/> 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.<ref name="hallion68"/> It flew for the first time in 1913, and was test-flown by Orville, Loening, and Oscar Brindley on the Great Miami River.<ref name="roach106">Roach 2015, p.106</ref>

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.<ref name="roach106"/>

Development of the design continued as the Wright Model H and Model HS.<ref name="roach109">Roach 2015, p.109</ref>

==Operational history== The U.S. Navy purchased the first Model G built<ref name="roach108">Roach 2015, p.108</ref> and assigned it the serial AH-19.<ref name="snb536">Swanborough & Bowers 1990, p.536</ref> It was tested for the Navy by Harry Atwood on Lake Erie in May 1914, and then by Lt. Harry Maxfield.<ref name="roach108"/> Maxfield advised against purchasing the type,<ref name="roach108"/> and no further interest by the Navy ensued.<ref name="roach108"/><ref name="snb536"/><ref name="jea"/>

Wright sold at least two other Model Gs: one to Atwood, and another to Ernie Hall.<ref name="roach108"/> 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.<ref name="roach108"/> He offered it to the Army for use in support of the Mexican Revolution, but the offer was not taken up.<ref name="roach108"/>

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.<ref name="hallion69"/>

==Operators== * United States Navy

==Specifications== {{Aircraft specs |ref=Hallion 2019, p.69 |prime units?=imp  |genhide=

|avionics= }}

{{aircontent  |see also= |related= |similar aircraft= |lists= }}

==Notes== {{Commons category}} ===References=== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== * {{cite journal |title=The 60 H.P. Wright Aero-Boat |journal=Flight |publisher=Flight |location=London |volume=6 |number=3 |date=January 17, 1914 |pages=56–58 }} * {{cite book |last=Hallion |first=Richard P. |title=The Wright Flyers 1899–1916 |publisher=Osprey |location=Oxford |year=2019 }} * {{cite book |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft |publisher=Aerospace Publishing|location=London }} * {{cite book |last=Roach |first=Edward J. |title=The Wright Company: From Invention to Industry |publisher=Ohio University Press |location=Athens, OH |year=2014 }} * {{cite book |last1=Swanborough |first1=Gordon |last2=Bowers |first2=Peter M. |title=United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |year=1990 }} * {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1993 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London }}

Category:1910s United States military reconnaissance aircraft Category:Wright aircraft Category:Biplanes Category:T-tail aircraft Category:Single-engined twin-prop pusher aircraft Category:Flying boats Category:Aircraft first flown in 1913