AIRCRAFT INVESTIGATION
weight and performance calculations for the Wright Model B
Wright Model B
role : flying trials/training/military reconnaissance/cargo delivery
importance : ****
first flight : operational : August 1910
country : United States of America
design : Wright brothers
production : 100 aircraft
general information :
First Wright aircraft with a wheel landing gear. About 100 were built.
On 7 November 1910, Phil Parmelee became the first pilot to transport commercial cargo. His flight took him 65 miles (105 km) from Dayton, Ohio , carrying a package of 100 pounds of silk valued between $800 and $1,000 for the opening of a store. Parmelee's route took him from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio by way of South Charleston and London , following the route of the old National Road . Newspaper clippings quoted the Wright brothers as stating he covered the distance in 66 minutes, but the flight was officially recorded at 57 minutes, a world speed record at the time.
On 15 January 1911 an officer in the Coast Artillery Corps , 2nd Lt. Myron S. Crissy, dropped 36 pounds of small bombs of his own design by hand from a Wright B biplane flown by Philip Parmalee at an altitude of 1,500 feet (460 m). The same day Walker took photographs from 1,200 feet (370 m) of the encampment from the air, flown by Walter Brookins . On 21 January 1911 Lt.Paul W.Beck was given a written message to send by wireless transmitter to a receiver 40 miles (64 km) away, the first military use of aerial telegraphy. Of his experiment, Beck wrote:
“The set used was a rough, makeshift affair, weighing thirty-two pounds. It consisted of a small spark-gap and interrupter, an ordinary telegraph-key, a small storage cell and a by-path or shunt to prevent overcharging the cell. All of these were combined in a wooden box which was carried on my lap. For aerial we used one hundred and twenty feet of phosphor-bronze wire, stranded, dependent from the tail of the aeroplane and connected with the sending apparatus by a number sixteen copper insulated wire. For conductive ground we simply connected the other side of the sending apparatus to one of the stay wires of the aeroplane. It took us about ten minutes to fit the outfit to the aeroplane. The wave-length measured by the wave-meter at the receiving station was 575 meters in length. This is rather longer than we had thought it would be. ”
(source : Wikipedia)
In the spring of 1911, Lt. Benjamin Foulois and Phil Parmalee flew scouting missions along the US-Mexico border. Sometime in 1911, (or 28 April 1912 ??) Grant Morton jumped out of a Model B piloted by Phil Parmalee and parachuted safely to the ground at Venice Beach, California. The world first parachute jump.
On 19 July 1911 the U.S. Navy purchased its first airplane, a Wright Model B mounted on pontoons. On 11 October 1910 Arch Hoxsey took former President Theodore Roosevelt aloft at St.Louis. From October 1911 to February 1912 Robert Fowler hopped his Model B across the U.S. from Los Angeles, California to Jacksonville, Florida.
users : US Army (2), US Navy (1)
crew : 1
passengers : 1
engine : 1 Wright no.4 liquid-cooled 4 -cylinder inline engine 35 [hp](26.1 KW)
On 7 June 1912 Capt. Charles D. Chandler test-fired a Lewis machine gun in flight over College Park MD. Lt. Roy Kirtland was the pilot. The first time a machine gun was fired from an airplane.
dimensions :
wingspan : 11.9 [m], length : 9.45 [m], height : 2.67[m]
wing area : 47.0 [m^2]
weights :
max.take-off weight : 567 [kg]
empty weight operational : 363 [kg] useful load : 93 [kg]
performance :
maximum speed :75 [km/hr] at sea-level
cruise speed :68 [km/u] op 50 [m]
service ceiling : 2000 [m]
range : 175 [km]
estimated endurance : 2.59 [hours]
description :
3-bay biplane with fixed underwing 4 -wheel landing gear and tail strut
two spar upper and lower wing
engine, landing gear and useful-load in or attached to fuselage, fuel in gravity tank
airscrew :
two fixed pitch 2 -bladed pusher airscrews with max. efficiency :0.61 [ ]
diameter airscrew 2.59 [m]
angle of attack prop : 22.92 [ ]
reduction : 0.35 [ ]
airscrew revs : 484 [r.p.m.]
pitch at Max speed 2.58 [m]
blade-tip speed at Vmax and max revs. : 69 [m/s]
calculation : *1* (dimensions)
wing chord : 1.92 [m]
mean wing chord : 1.97 [m]
wing aspect ratio : 6.03 []
gap : 1.62 [m]
gap/chord : 0.82 [ ]
seize (span*length*height) : 300 [m^3]
calculation : *2* (fuel consumption)
oil consumption : 0.6 [kg/hr]
fuel consumption(cruise speed) : 16.4 [kg/hr] (22.4 [litre/hr]) at 76 [%] power
distance flown for 1 kg fuel : 4.11 [km/kg] at 1000 [m] cruise height, sfc : 825.0 [kg/kwh]
estimated total fuel capacity : 65.92 [litre] (48.32 [kg])
calculation : *3* (weight)
weight engine(s) dry : 82.0 [kg] = 3.14 [kg/KW]
weight transmission & gear (engines in fuselage) : 10.4 [kg]
weight 2.8 litre oil tank : 0.24 [kg]
oil tank filled with 0.2 litre oil : 0.2 [kg]
oil in engine 1.5 litre oil : 1.3 [kg]
fuel in engine 0.2 litre fuel : 0.13 [kg]
weight 65.9 litre gravity patrol tank(s) : 9.9 [kg]
weight radiator : 3.7 [kg]
weight exhaust pipes & fuel lines 3.1 [kg]
weight cowling 1.0 [kg]
weight airscrew(s) (wood) incl. boss & bolts : 11.4 [kg]
total weight propulsion system : 123 [kg](21.7 [%])
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fuselage skeleton (wood gauge : 4.54 [cm]): 50 [kg]
bracing : 3.3 [kg]
weight instruments. : 1.1 [kg]
weight controls : 5.1 [kg]
weight seats : 3.0 [kg]
weight engine mount : 1.3 [kg]
total weight fuselage : 64 [kg](11.2 [%])
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weight wing covering (doped linen fabric) : 41 [kg]
total weight ribs (23 ribs) : 34 [kg]
load on front upper spar (clmax) per running metre : 263.8 [N]
load on rear upper spar (vmax) per running metre : 105.8 [N]
total weight 8 spars : 21 [kg]
weight wings : 97 [kg]
weight wing/square meter : 2.05 [kg]
weight 12 interplane struts & cabane : 13.9 [kg]
weight cables (88 [m]) : 3.0 [kg] (= 34 [gram] per metre)
diameter cable : 2.3 [mm]
weight fin & rudder (1.6 [m2]) : 3.6 [kg]
weight stabilizer & elevator (5.3 [m2]): 11.2 [kg]
total weight wing surfaces & bracing : 128 [kg] (22.6 [%])
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wheel pressure : 141.8 [kg]
weight 4 wheels (510 [mm] by 60 [mm]) : 21.4 [kg]
weight tailskid : 1.2 [kg]
weight undercarriage with axle 20.9 [kg]
total weight landing gear : 43.5 [kg] (7.7 [%]
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Ruth Law at the controls of a Wright B
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calculated empty weight : 359 [kg](63.3 [%])
weight oil for 3.1 hours flying : 1.9 [kg]
weight cooling fluids : 5.6 [kg]
calculated operational weight empty : 366 [kg] (64.6 [%])
published operational weight empty : 363 [kg] (64.0 [%])
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weight crew : 81 [kg]
weight fuel for 1.0 hours flying : 16 [kg]
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operational weight : 464 [kg](81.8 [%])
fuel reserve : 31.9 [kg] enough for 1.94 [hours] flying
possible additional useful load : 71 [kg]
operational weight fully loaded : 567 [kg] with fuel tank filled for 100 [%]
published maximum take-off weight : 567 [kg] (100.0 [%])
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calculation : * 4 * (engine power)
power loading (Take-off) : 21.72 [kg/kW]
power loading (operational without useful load) : 17.77 [kg/kW]
total power : 26.1 [kW] at 1400 [r.p.m]
calculation : *5* (loads)
manoeuvre load : 1.8 [g] at 1000 [m]
limit load : 3.0 [g] ultimate load : 4.5 [g] load factor : 1.9 [g]
design flight time : 2.07 [hours]
design cycles : 153 sorties, design hours : 95 [hours]
operational wing loading : 97 [N/m^2]
wing stress (3 g) during operation : 141 [N/kg] at 3g emergency manoeuvre
calculation : *6* (angles of attack)
Marjorie Stinson
, at the controls of a Wright Model B, she was an early American aviatrix who learned to fly at the Wright Flying School. The Wrights used the Model B extensively for flight training.
angle of attack zero lift : -1.26 ["]
max. angle of attack (stalling angle) : 13.02 ["]
angle of attack at max. speed : 3.36 ["]
calculation : *7* (lift & drag ratios
lift coefficient at angle of attack 0° :0.10 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. angle of attack : 1.13 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. speed : 0.37 [ ]
induced drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.0126 [ ]
drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.0547 [ ]
drag coefficient (zero lift) : 0.0421 [ ]
calculation : *8* (speeds
stalling speed at sea-level (OW): 43 [km/u]
stalling speed at sea-level (MTOW): 47 [km/u]
landing speed at sea-level: 50 [km/hr]
min. drag speed (max endurance) : 58 [km/hr] at 1000 [m](power :67 [%])
min. power speed (max range) : 63 [km/hr] at 1000 [m] (power:72 [%])
max. rate of climb speed : 51.3 [km/hr] at sea-level
cruising speed : 68 [km/hr] op 1000 [m] (power:79 [%])
design speed prop : 71 [km/hr]
maximum speed : 75 [km/hr] op 50 [m] (power:99 [%])
climbing speed at sea-level : 65 [m/min]
calculation : *9* (regarding various performances)
take-off speed : 51.8 [km/u]
static prop wash : 30 [km/u]
take-off distance at sea-level : 119 [m]
lift/drag ratio : 7.95 [ ]
Roosevelt & Hoxsey
time to 1000m : 22.55 [min]
time to 1500m : 44.51 [min]
time to 2000m : 99.83 [min]
practical ceiling (operational weight) : 2178 [m] with flying weight :464 [kg] line 3385
practical ceiling fully loaded (mtow- 30 min.fuel) : 1058 [m] with flying weight :559 [kg]
max. dive speed : 200.0 [km/hr] at 58 [m] height
turning speed at CLmax : 50.8 [km/u] at 50 [m] height
turn radius at 50m: 20 [m]
time needed for 360* turn 9.0 [seconds] at 50m
load factor at max. angle turn 1.42 ["g"]
calculation *10* (action radius & endurance)
estimated endurance : 2.59 [hours] with 1 crew and possible useful load : 77.1 [kg] and 88.1 [%] fuel
published range : 175 [km] with 1 crew and 77.1 [kg] useful load and 88.1 [%] fuel
range : 109 [km] with 1 crew and 93.0 [kg] useful load and 55.1 [%] fuel
max range theoretically with additional fuel tanks for total 163.2 [litre] fuel : 491.8 [km]
useful load with range 500km : 0 [kg]
production (500 km) : 0 [tonkm/hour]
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Literature :
Praktisch handbook vliegtuigen deel 1 page 74
Historische vliegtuigen page 174
Wikipedia
DISCLAIMER Above calculations are based on published data, they must be
regarded as indication not as facts.
Calculated performance and weight may not correspond with actual weights
and performances and are assumptions for which no responsibility can be taken.
Calculations are as accurate as possible, they can be fine-tuned when more data
is available, you are welcome to give suggestions and additional information
so we can improve our program. For copyright on drawings/photographs/
content please mail to below mail address
(c) B van der Zalm 07 October 2020 contact : info.aircraftinvestigation@gmail.com python 3.7.4