Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe

The Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe was an American four-seat touring aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Company of Dayton, Ohio. Because it was the last aircraft designed by Orville Wright, the design was given the designation OW.1. The aircraft was based on a heavily modified De Havilland DH.4. Although only one was produced, the Dayton-Wright OW.1 marks the first working example of a civilian single-engine four passenger light cabin aircraft in the US. The interior was designed for greater comfort compared to contemporaries, and was meant to be more like an automobile interior. It had a side-opening door with two rows of two seats, and a greater focus on luxury.

It set an altitude record of 19,710 ft (6,010 m) on 22 May 1921. In 1924 it was crashed in an air race, which marked the last time it flew and it was sold for parts. It turned out to be the last aircraft designed in part by one the of the Wright Brothers.

Design and development
Following up on a wartime contract to build the British DH.4 under license, the Dayton-Wright Company looked at development of the type for civil use. One version was designed by Orville Wright. Designated the OW.1 Aerial Coupe (OW standing for Orville Wright), it was the last aircraft designed by one of the Wright brothers. Although based on the DH-4, it had lighter-weight wings, revised landing gear, and a shortened, smaller tail unit. The main difference was a new widened fuselage featuring an enclosed cabin. Initially designed for a forward pilot, with two passengers seated behind, the cabin was later modified to accommodate three passengers.

Operational history


The Dayton-Wright OW.1 was refitted with a 150 hp Packard 8, and later equipped with a 180 hp Wright-Hisso E inline engine. The OW.1 set an altitude record of 19710 ft on 22 May 1921, flown by Dayton-Wright test pilot Bernard L. Whelan, and accompanied by three mechanics as passengers. The Aerial Coupe reached the record altitude after a 2 hr, 31 min flight over USAAC Test Center at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio.

The aircraft was used for a publicity stunt, delivering ice cream for the Retail Ice Cream Dealers' Association banquet.

Whelan and Howard Rinehart (another company test pilot) set up the Rinehart-Whelan Company at Moraine City, Ohio, and acquired the Aerial Coupe in 1923. They planned to market the OW.1 along with other Dayton-Wright designs, but Rinehart crashed the OW.1 in an air race.

A year later, John Montijo, a former Army instructor from Long Beach, California purchased the remains of the crashed OW.1, and used parts from it to rebuild an aircraft called the California Coupe, powered by a Hall-Scott L-6.