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 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 He was the third son of the gyrocompa ...

for the competing

Curtiss Aeroplane Company 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 decades ...

Operational history

On 31 December 1913, Orville Wright demonstrated a Model E with an "automatic stabilizer" flying seven circuits around

Huffman Prairie Huffman Prairie, also known as Huffman Prairie Flying Field or Huffman Field is part of Ohio's Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The 84-acre (34-hectare) patch of rough pasture, near Fairborn, northeast of Dayton, is the place w ...

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 an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to ...

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 ...

. 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