Wright Model B

Model B
Replica of Wright Model B in Dahlgren Hall, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis
General information
TypeSports plane
ManufacturerWright Company
Primary usersUnited States Army
Number builtca. 100
History
First flight1910
Wright Model B reproduction in Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Wright Model B reproduction on display at the Farnborough Airshow 2008
Wright Modified “B” Flyer at the USAF Museum

The Wright Model B is an early pusher biplane designed by the Wright brothers in the United States in 1910. It was the first of their designs to be built in quantity. Unlike the Model A, it featured a true elevator carried at the tail rather than at the front. It was the last Wright model to have an open-frame tail. The Model B was a dedicated two-seater with the pilot and a passenger sitting side by side on the leading edge of the lower wing.

Wright Model B Flyer after the first successful firing of a machine gun from an airplane in June 1912.

Besides their civil market, the Wrights were able to sell aircraft to the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps (S.C. 3, 4, and 5[1]) and to the United States Navy as hydroplanes (AH-4, -5-, and -6), in which services they were used as trainers. Furthermore, the Wrights were able to sell licenses to produce the aircraft domestically (to the Burgess Company and Curtis, which designated it Model F), as well as in Germany. The deal with Burgess was the first license-production of aircraft undertaken in the United States and most of the approximately one hundred Model Bs produced were actually built by Burgess. A modified Model B, redesignated Model EX (for Exhibition) achieved fame as the Vin Fiz Flyer, the first aircraft to cross the United States. Burgess also planned a refined version as the Model G, but this was never built.


  1. ^ The last was a Burgess-Wright Model F.