Wright Experience Donates 1911 Navy B-1

Ninety-five years after the Wright B-1 became the first aircraft built by Orville and Wilbur Wright to be delivered to the US Navy, a reproduction of that historic aircraft is now on permanent display at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

The aircraft, donated by Ken Hyde of the "Wright Experience", was presented to the Academy on Friday. It will be displayed in Dahlgren Hall.

"The Navy B-1 was cutting edge technology in 1911," Hyde told the Faquier Times-Democrat. "We're very excited that the aircraft exhibit is interactive and can be lowered and used as a teaching aide to demonstrate its unique 'wing-warping' control system to future naval aviators."

Similar in many ways to the original Wright Flyer of 1903, the B-1 is also powered by two rear-facing propellors driven by a single four-cylinder engine, and uses wing-warping in lieu of today's conventional ailerons. The aircraft does sport several differences, however -- including it's conventional, rear-mounted empennage assembly. The plane also has wheels mounted on its landing skids.

First built in 1910 as a successor to the earlier Model-A, the B-1 carries the distinction of having the largest production run of any Wright Brothers airplane -- but it was not the first aircraft to enter service with the Navy. The (Glenn) Curtiss A-1 was delivered to the Navy four months before the Wright plane was ready.

The Times-Democrat states construction of the replica B-1 took Hyde (right) and his team approximately 21 months. It is the fourth Wright Model B replica to be built by the Wright Experience; the others are displayed at the College Park (MD) Aviation Museum, and at the US Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker, AL.

As reported by Aero-News, the Wright Experience built -- and flew -- a replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, NC for 2003's Centennial of Flight celebrations. That airplane is now displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.

FMI: www.usna.edu, www.wrightexperience.com