Where can I see the Wright planes?

April 22, 2009 6:03 AM

Where can I find a list of all the Wright Company planes on public display (originals, not reproductions)?

From personal experience, I know the Flyer I is at the National Air & Space Museum (NASM), and the Flyer III is at Carillon Park in Dayton, the military Model A is at NASM (Wikipedia says the only other Model A is in Munich). Wikipedia says there are at least 3 Model B's (I've seen the ones at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, and the Franklin Institute in Philly, there's one in Utah, too). Model EX is at NASM, too. But while I can find descriptions of Models C, CH, D, G, E, F, H, HS, K, L, and R, I can't figure out if any are still extant. Part of the problem is that many seem to have been licensed out to be built by other companies, with other model numbers. Mainly I'm interested in planes built by the Wright Company, but if there are planes designed by the Wrights and built by other companies, that would be interesting too. I thought it would be easy to find a simple list, but I haven't been able to.

posted by rikschell to travel & transportation (3 comments total)

Hmm I know your only interested in Wright original planes but the craddle of aviation museum here on long island has some replicas .

Also they have some older planes like this one :

http://www.cradleofaviation.org/exhibits/hp/bleriot/index.html

also have an original moon lander (grumman was on long island) and a command module also.
posted by majortom1981 at 6:23 AM on April 22

I'm not much for words of help, sorry (poking at the bigger aviation museums - Pima, Evergreen &c - didn't turn up anything original) but there's another complication, I guess, to a quest for purely original Wrights.
You'll ultimately find very few non-reproductions these days, or planes that aren't at least in large part reproductions. For example, the B at the Air Force Museum was built in the '50s, but from Wright parts. So are you interested in originals only or original-style reproductions, too?

I'll keep on the hunt for a list, though.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 6:46 AM on April 22

You may want to contact the research library at the National Air and Space Museum. They may have a list, or at least be able to tell you if such a list is available.
posted by arco at 7:44 AM on April 22