Wright Model G

The Wright Model G Aeroboat was the only flying boat built by the Wright Company, made in small numbers in 1913 and 1914 in an unsuccessful attempt to compete with the Curtiss Model F. Grover Loening designed it under the supervision of Orville Wright. It was a three-bay unstaggered biplane with a metal hull in which the pilot and one passenger sat side by side, a six-cylinder 60 horsepower engine behind the cockpit driving two pusher propellers by chain, and stabiliser floats that moved from mid-span to the wingtips. Its horizontal tail was lifted above the fins, making the Model G the first aircraft with a T-tail. The U.S. Navy bought the first as AH-19 and tested it at Lake Erie in May 1914 but placed no order, and at least two others were sold to private owners. On 20 August 1914 a wing failed and a Model G flown by Orville Wright crashed into the Great Miami River. Development continued as the Model H and HS. Not to be confused with the unbuilt Burgess-Wright Model G.