The Wright Model E was the first in the series of Wright Flyers that used a single propeller The aircraft was also the test demonstrator for the first

automatic pilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

control.

Design

The Model E featured 24 inch tires. It was flown with four and six cylinder Wright engines. The model E was fitted with a prototype autopilot that used a wind driven generator and pendulums to drive the wing warping controls. The design was quickly eclipsed by a gyroscopic autopilot developed by

Lawrence Sperry Lawrence Burst Sperry (21 December 1892, Chicago, Illinois, United States – December 13, 1923, English Channel) was an aviation pioneer who invented the autopilot and the artificial horizon. Biography Sperry was the third son of the gyroc ...

for the competing

Curtiss Aeroplane Company The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first de ...

Operational history

On 31 December 1913, Orville Wright demonstrated a Model E with an "automatic stabilizer" flying seven circuits around Huffman Prairie field with his hands above his head. The Model E demonstrations earned the Wright Brothers the 1913

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is awarded annually "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been t ...

from

Aero Club of America The Aero Club of America was a social club formed in 1905 by Charles Jasper Glidden and Augustus Post, among others, to promote aviation in America. It was the parent organization of numerous state chapters, the first being the Aero Club of New E ...

. Albert Elton (1881–1975) purchased the sole Wright Model E for exhibition flights.

Specifications (Wright Model E)

References

{{Wright aircraft 1910s United States sport aircraft Model E Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1913 Single-engined pusher aircraft