EveryMuseum.com - The Wright "B" Flyer

The Wright "B" Flyer was constructed to honor the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers and promote Dayton, Ohio as the "Leader in Flight,". The original Wright B Flyer was designed to provide pilot training and reconnaissance for the US Army Signal Corps from 1911 to 1914.

FROM DREAM TO REALITY
During a meeting of aeronautical enthusiasts at Wright-Patterson AFB in 1973, they were disappointed to find so few Wright Brothers' artifacts in the Dayton, Ohio area. Because of this lack and also to support the nation's bicentennial, these eager individuals decided to take on the challenge of building a flyable "look-a-like" of the first production aircraft ever built - the Wright Brothers Model B Airplane (also known as the Wright-Brother's Model B Military Flyer.) After much time, research, planning, and fund raising, several of them began actual production of the replica Wright Brother's Model B Airplane. Several years and many volunteers' hours later in the machine shops on the flight line of Patterson Field, Wright-Patterson AFB, the "one-of-a-kind" Wright "B" Flyer, a fully operational aircraft that closely resembles the Wright Brothers, Model B Military Flyer, that flew over Huffman Prairie in 1911, became reality.

The production program began in May of 1975 by researching all available sources, especially those at the Air Force Museum, Smithsonian Institute, and the Wright Brothers' papers at Wright State University, Dayton, OH, to determine if technical data as available to support this effort. The research revealed that detailed construction drawings of the original Wright B Military Flyer did not exist, so the planners decided to use the non-flying, highly modified Model B in the Air Force Museum as a template. It was a Model B orginially, but it was modified by the Signal Corp, to include ailerons, a V-8 engine, a different landing gear, and wheel controls. From a detailed study of the Air Force Museum's aircraft, the developers made construction drawings, which they then turned over to the Kettering High School Drafting Class and within a period of one year, the volunteer high school students produced 90 pages of detailed mechanical drawings, which could be used to start the preliminary engineering design of the modern "look-a-like" Wright "B" Military Flyer.

To complete further operational and design requirement analysis, the planners then enlisted the aid of technicians at the University of Dayton Engineering Department, the Dayton-Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) personal, and other activites. These efforts produced a report which provided the basis for all future engineering calculations. Also, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) PART 23 would be employed as a design standard. The ultimate goal was to use all available technical data and modern materials to construct a flyable "look-a-like" aircraft that would appear and perform like the original military flyer. Also, since the initial intent for the operational base at the Huffman Prairie was to be considered, it would be necessary to include requirements of the Engineering Review Team (ERT) of the Aeronautical Systems Division, currently Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Manufacturing such an aircraft from scratch required the establishment of a close technical working group of engineers, manufacturing specialist, machinists, welders, sheet metal workers, and experienced aircraft mechanics. In all, over 600 volunteers participated in the design, construction, and testing of the Wright "B" Flyer, "look-a-like", aircraft. Construction proceeded slower than had been hoped and it proved impossible to meet the projected deadline of the National Bicentennial in 1976. On July 27, 1982, the Wright "B" Flyer flew its maiden flight at Wright-Patterson AFB, Patterson Field.