Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Because the Wright Brothers’ initial and primary objective was demonstration of heavier-than-air flight, their early engines, which they designed and manufactured themselves, were very similar and rudimentary. For example, they did not have carburetors. This Wright Vertical 4, the oldest existing U.S. Navy aircraft engine, powered the Navy's first Wright airplane, the B-1 hydro-aero plane. In 1912 the B-1 crashed in San Diego Bay during a training flight. Navy mechanics repaired the heavily damaged aircraft and its engine. However, attempts to solder and weld the aluminum fragments to the crankcase proved impossible, so an electrician fabricated a sheet metal patch and bolted it to the lower side of the crankcase.

This engine is the only known artifact to have survived from the Navy's first aviation training program, during which routine flights and accidents resulted in a cycle of repair and reconstruction of aircraft and overhaul of many engines.

Display Status

This object is on display in Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Boeing Aviation Hangar
Object Details
Date 1911 Country of Origin United States of America Type PROPULSION-Reciprocating & Rotary Designer Orville Wright
Manufacturer Wright Company (Dayton, Ohio)
Physical Description Type: Reciprocating, in-line, 4 cylinders, liquid cooled Power rating: Normal 22.4 kW (30 hp) at 1,200 rpm, Maximum 29.1 kW (39 hp) at 1,600 rpm Displacement: 3.95 L (241 cu in) Bore and Stroke: 111 mm (4.375 in.) x 102 mm (4.0 in.) Weight: 81.7 kg (180 lb) Dimensions Length 88.9 cm (35 in.), Height 63.5 cm (25 in.), Width 35.6 cm (14 in.)
Inventory Number A19520108000 Credit Line Transferred from the Department of the Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
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