Dayton-Wright PS-1

Dayton-Wright PS-1 Story

The Dayton-Wright Company was founded in 1917 during World War I (1914-1918), and Orville Wright not only lent his name to the company, but also served as a consultant. The focus's operational life was still short, named after a handful of aircraft as early as 1923 - including the equally short-lived Dayton-Wright "PS-1", described below.

While the biplane fighter form was tried and tested in the air combat of World War I (1914-1918), continuing to dominate as the main frontline attacker of the world's military air service, some in the aviation community are still Try to develop a viable alternative, use it with a monoplane wing. The PS-1 attempted to fill that void, but ultimately proved to be a disappointment to the U.S.

Army Air Service (USAAS), the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force.

The overall design of the PS-1 was heavily influenced by Dayton-Wright's early attempts at streamlined racing, the one-off "RB-1" ("Rinehart-Bauman Model 1") single-seat, single-engine racing for "Dayton-Wright Racing"). The aircraft featured a cantilevered wing assembly and retractable main landing gear elements - a mechanical system developed in-house by the Dayton-Wright Company in 1920 (a race trial in France in 1920 was derailed by a broken wire ).

One of the unique qualities of this proposed interceptor is its manually operated retractable landing gear, in which the main element is raised into the structure after takeoff and lowered for landing - this is at a time when fixed landing gear is still the norm. Unique The landing gear entry system is controlled by the pilot and includes a chain and sprocket method.

It takes a full ten seconds to raise the main element, and about six seconds to lower. Both the RB-1 Racer and PS-1 have this system installed.

The aircraft's monoplane wing assemblies are located high up in the fuselage, held in place by a pair of struts extending from the lower part of the fuselage.

The military derivative of the racer is more or less "PS-1". The PS-1 differed by having an open-air cockpit instead of the racer's streamlined covered workspace, and the main aircraft with cantilevered wings was replaced by a parasol-like arrangement. Power came from a 200 hp Lawrence J-1 air-cooled radial (instead of a 250 hp Hall-Scott L-6a) and used to drive a four-blade wooden nose propeller. Ahead of the pilot's position was the wing main aircraft, but their position resulted in poor visibility ahead of the cockpit. Of particular note here are the main aircraft, which have flaps on both the leading and trailing edges.

The fuselage is solid, flat, and of hybrid constructionsteel tubes for the underlying frame, wood for all horizontal wing sections, and fabric skin for the fuselage and vertical tail.

Measurements include a wingspan of 30 feet, an overall length of 19.1 feet, and a height of 7 feet. Maximum take-off weight (MTOW) reaches approximately 1,720 lbs. The top speed attainable is 146 mph and the effective range is up to 235 miles.

Dayton-Wright developed his PS-1 to meet USAAS requirements, "Track Alert (Special)" and was looking for a quick response interceptor with 2 x 7.62mm Browning air-cooled machine guns . The service eventually commissioned three prototypes that were to be flown-tested under the designation "XPS-1" in June 1921. The first prototype was shelved as a static test item.

By November 1922, the design was quickly proven unsatisfactory by USAAC officials, who demanded an overhaul of the landing gear and lower forward fuselage. The second prototype had most of the changes, and this example first aired in July 1923, but failed to impress. As the storage of both airworthiness forms at Ohio's McCook Airport ended, the program became increasingly disappointing and ultimately led to its rapid demise.

After April 1926, nothing was known about the airline.

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