In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Technology and Culture 45.2 (2004) 476-478



[Access article in PDF]

An Unprepossessing Aircraft


The Henry Ford Museum happens to lie more-or-less underneath one of the approaches to Wayne County Metropolitan Airport. The airliners that pass overhead make use of a number of innovations pioneered in an unprepossessing little airplane that now hangs in the museum, the Dayton-Wright RB-1, one of the most technologically advanced aircraft of the interwar era—and, the air traffic overhead not withstanding, a technological dead end.

In 1920, most airplanes had two wings supported by a maze of struts and wires. The thin, cantilever wing of the RB-1 was only the most obvious of its many advanced ideas. Both the leading and trailing edges of the wing drooped from the horizontal, which increased the available lift for takeoff and landing; once airborne, the pilot literally cranked them back in line with the center of the wing, reducing drag. At the same time, an interconnected linkage retracted the landing gear into the sides of the fuselage, a process that reportedly made observers accustomed to fixed gears uncomfortable. The fuselage was unusual, as well, a light, strong monocoque constructed of alternating layers of thin strips of wood and fabric, laid up in glue. Its streamlined, fish-like shape also reduced drag, but with one significant trade-off: the pilot had no forward field of vision.

All this innovation was the result of the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company's effort to win the 1920 Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race, held in France. The design is credited to Howard Rinehart, Dayton-Wright's chief pilot, and Milton Baumann (hence the plane's designation, RB-1), but the unique wing and landing gear mechanism sprang primarily from the brain of Charles Hampson Grant, a civil engineer and talented builder of flying model aircraft. Grant's model experience is probably reflected in the construction of the wing itself, built of solid pieces of balsa wood.

That such a technological tour de force proved unsuccessful in practice will not especially surprise readers of this journal. The plane lacked directional [End Page 476] stability, and the lack of forward visibility was a major handicap. On race day the RB-1 took off without incident, but within twenty minutes Rinehart landed the plane, tears of frustration in his eyes. Contemporary accounts, perhaps reflecting observers' lack of understanding of the plane's innovations, disagree as to what had happened; either Rinehart was unable to return the wing to the flat position or the rudder jammed. Regardless, the RB-1 was out of the race, and a more conventional Nieuport won.


Click for larger view
Figure 1
Dayton-Wright RB-1, 1920. This wingtop gathering was cenvened to demonstrate the strength of the aircraft's then-rare cantilever wing. (Photo courtesy the Henry Ford.)

The little plane never raced again, eventually finding its way to Henry Ford's growing collection. For years it was oxymoronically displayed with its gear down and its wing in the straight (flying) position. While preparing the plane for inclusion in a new aviation exhibition during 2003, conservators at the museum corrected that mistake, discovering in the process that the linkage was cleverly interconnected with the control stick, allowing the trailing edge of each wing to function as an aileron as well.

The RB-1's failure to finish that race may account for its apparent lack of influence on future aircraft. Planes like the plywood Lockheed Vega (1927) and the metal Boeing Monomail and Northrup Alpha (both 1930) demonstrated the advantages of cantilever wings and monocoque fuselages, but there is no evidence they drew inspiration from the RB-1. Variable-camber wings were not widely used until the early 1930s, and then the designs differed from the Dayton-Wright approach. Only the RB-1's retractable landing gear may have had some influence; Grumman's FF-1 [End Page 477] and F4F fighter planes, which entered navy service in 1933 and 1939 respectively, used a system much like the RB-1's.

Some of the gentlemen perched on the wing in the accompanying...

pdf

Share