Wright Model R

The Wright Model R, also called the Roadster or the Baby Wright, was a single-seat racing biplane built by the Wright Company at Dayton, Ohio, in 1910 for speed and altitude competitions, derived from the Model B. It was a two-bay biplane with twin rudders on wire-braced wooden booms ahead of a single elevator, powered by a 30 horsepower water-cooled four-cylinder Wright engine driving two pusher propellers by chain. Two flew at the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament in November 1910. A standard Model R flown by Alec Ogilvie finished third in the Gordon Bennett Trophy race despite an hour-long repair stop. The special competition version, the Baby Grand, had a 60 horsepower V-8 engine and a wingspan of 21 ft 5 in; Orville Wright flew it at nearly 70 miles per hour, but it crashed in a trial flight on race day. Ogilvie flew a re-engined Model R again in the 1912 Gordon Bennett race.