Wright Vertical 4
This Wright Vertical 4, the oldest existing U.S. Navy aircraft engine, powered the Navy's first Wright airplane, the B-1 hydroaeroplane. In 1912 the B-1 crashed in San Diego Bay during a training flight. Navy mechanics repaired the heavily damaged aircraft and its engine. Attempts to solder and weld the aluminum fragments to the crankcase proved impossible, so an electrician fabricated a sheet metal patch and bolted it to the lower side of the crankcase.
This engine is the only known artifact to have survived from the Navy's first aviation training program, during which routine flights and accidents resulted in a cycle of repair and reconstruction of aircraft and overhaul of many engines.
Transferred from the Department of the Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics.
Date: 1911
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
63.5 x 35.6 x 88.9 cm (25 x 14 x 35 in.)
Physical Description:
Type: In-line 4, 4 cylinders, liquid cooled
Power rating: 27 kW (36 hp) at 1,600 rpm
Displacement: 3.9 L (240 cu in)
Weight: 81.7 kg (180 lb)
Manufacturer: Wright Co., Dayton, Ohio
Patch on crankcase; missing carburetor, side cover, and spark plug wires.
