1910 Wright Model R

lso called the "Roadster" and the "Baby Wright", the Wrights built this miniature version of a Model EX biplane for Alec Ogilvie to fly in the Gordon Bennett air race at Belmont Park, NY, in Oct 1910. It had 26.5-foot span; 3.5-foot chord; 3.5-foot separation; 180 sq-foot area; and weighed 750 lb.

It had a large V-8 motor which weighed about 300 pounds , had 481 cubic inches displacement, and produced 50-60 horsepower. It used the same cylinders and many other components of the standard vertical 4-cylinder engines.

The Wright Team brought their own Model R to this same race, an even smaller version (21-foot span), called the "Baby Grand." Orville test-flew it more than 70 mph on 25 Oct 1910. Later, on 29 Oct, company pilot Walter Brookins crashed it after the engine quit, keeping it out of the race

References:

McFarland, Marvin W. (ed), "The papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright." McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1953, pp 1199, 1216-1217, plates 210 and 229.
Hobbs, Leonard S., "The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their Design." Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971, pp 47-48.
Lippincott, Harvey H., "Propulsion System of the Wright Brothers." In Wolko, Howard S. (editor), "The Wright Flyer, an Engineering Perspective." The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987, p 89.

[Submitted by Joe W. McDaniel]

Orville Wright in the "Baby Grand", a Wright Model R, at Belmont, New York in 1910. This plane crashed at Belmont, but it was later rebuilt and used for exhibition flights.

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