Wright & Co.

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Experimental aircraft tinkerers, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, who are recorded as being the first humans to actually fly a heavier-than-air craft, and who then went on to build two more (three more?) successful aircraft, established Wright & Co., apparently an ad hoc company, in 1908 to market their Wright Flyer. During the time of Wright & Co., the entity conducted trials with the Type A at the U.S. Army's Fort Myer, made a European Tour with the Type A, and made the Hudson-Fulton Flight, in addition to the activities listed in the next column. Charles F. Taylor was mechanic.

Sold one Type A Flyer to US Army Signal Corps in July 1908 This appears to be the Wright Type A Military, also known as Signal Corps No. 1; training of Signal Corps. officers to operate the machine began in October 1909. As Short Brother Ltd., UK, was formed in 1908 to build Wright Flyers under license, it is presumed that this license agreement was made in 1908. It appears that Dayton housed an experimental aeroplane factory but there were no real manufacturing facilities. In October 1909, it was announced that separate companies for the manufacture of Wright machines had been organized in Paris and Berlin and were pending in Russia and Italy. On 22 Nov 1909, the Wright Company, which see, a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of the Wright brothers' aeroplanes was formed in New York state by the Wright brothers and several well-known financiers.

In January 1909, Short Brother Ltd., UK, began building Type A Wright Flyers under its license acquired in 1908, completing six before concentrating on its own designs. This manufacturing preceded Wright & Co.s own ability to produce aircraft because the latter lacked production facilities. Short Brothers also built the Short-Wright glider, 1909. The use of the name Wright & Co., 1908-1909, comes from SD. G and 2dG say Wright & Co. was formed 22 Nov 1909. We have not yet been able to independently verify the use of this name with either the ampersand or the word "and" by Orville and Wilbur Wright either before or after 22 Nov 1909. According to the New York Times, the new company formed 22 Nov 1909 was called the Wright Company.

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Names Wright & Co.
Country US
City Dayton, OH
Affiliations
Keywords
Started aero 1908
Ended aero 1909
Key people
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