Wright Company

The Wright Company or Wright & Co. was the initial aviation business of the Wright Brothers, who had previously run a bicycle shop.

They established the company in 1909 to sell aircraft to the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

The Wright Brothers concentrated their efforts on protecting their patent rights rather than on improving their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died in 1912, and in 1915 Orville Wright sold the company, which later merged with the Glenn L. Martin Company to form Wright-Martin.

Many of the papers of the original Wright Company are now in the collection of the Seattle Museum of Flight.

Wright aircraft

The following is a complete list of aircraft built under the Wright name, from the earliest test craft to the last products of the company before it merged with Martin. Note that only the later aircraft were built by the Wright Company itself.

Early test gliders

• 1899 Kite
• 1900 Glider
• 1901 Glider
• 1902 Glider

Early powered aircraft

• 1903 Flyer I
• 1904 Flyer II
• 1905 Flyer III
• 1907-1909 Model A

Wright Company aircraft

• 1909 Military Flyer
• 1909-1910 Model A-B
• 1910 Model B
• 1910 Model Ex
• 1910 Model R
• 1911 Glider
• 1912 Model C
• 1912 Model D
• 1913 Model CH
• 1913 Model G Aeroboat
• 1913 Model E
• 1913 Model F
• 1914 Model H
• 1915 Model HS
• 1915 Model K
• 1916 Model L

(Source: "The Wright Fleet," Air&Space/Smithsonian, February/March, 2003.)