Dayton-Wright Racer

RB-1 Racer
Role Racing aircraft
Manufacturer Dayton-Wright
Designer Orville Wright, Milton Bauman, Charles Grant
First flight 1920
Number built 1

The Dayton-Wright RB-1, also known simply as the Dayton-Wright Racer was a racing aircraft developed in the United States to participate in the 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup air race. Advanced for its day, the aircraft was a high-wing monoplane with a monocoque fuselage and cantilever wing (built of solid balsa wood covered in plywood and linen and that incorporated a mechanism to vary its camber in flight. The aircraft also featured retractable undercarriage operated by a hand-crank making it one of the first instances of undercarriage retraction for aerodynamic benefit alone.[1] The pilot had no forward visibility, but was provided with side windows. Cockpit access was through a hatch in the top of the fuselage.[2]

Dismantled and shipped to France, the RB-1 was flown by Howard Rinehart in the September 28 race, but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to mechanical failure in flight.[2] It was returned to the United States, where it is preserved at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Many of the aircraft's advanced features were incorporated into a prototype fighter design, the XPS-1.

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

References

Notes
  1. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201608.html
  2. ^ a b Wegg 1990, p.30.
Bibliography
Aircraft produced by Dayton-Wright

Aerial Coupe • Bug • Cabin Cruiser • Chummy/TA-3/TA-5/TW-3 • FP.2 • FS • Messenger • Racer • SDW • USXB-1 • WS • XO-3 • XPS-1
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