The Dayton-Wright Company was formed in 1917, on the declaration of war between the United States and Germany, by a group of Ohio investors that included Charles F. Kettering and Edward A. Deeds of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO). Orville Wright lent his name and served as a consultant, but other than that, location of one of its three factories in the original Wright Company factory buildings in Dayton, Ohio was the only connection to the Wright brothers. In addition to plant 3, Dayton-Wright operated factories in Moraine (plant 1, the main factory) and Miamisburg (plant 2), Ohio. During the course of the war, Dayton-Wright produced about 3,000 DH-4s, as well as 400 Standard SJ-1 trainers. The company was hurt by the reputation of the DH-4s it produced as “flaming coffins” or “flying coffins“, although they were not in reality more subject to catching fire than other aircraft, and by scandals it faced.
What makes them special was their function during the thirteen years prior, as the first airplane factory in the United States.
Originally erected by flight pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1910 and ’11, the buildings helped shape the dawn of the aviation era. For nearly 100 years these factories produced parts that kept America in the skies, in the war, and on the road.
But with no tenant today, the buildings’ future is less certain. If a push from the National Aviation Heritage Area and its partners is successful, the oldest airplane factory in the world just might be preserved for future generations.
It is widely accepted that Wilbur and Orville Wright completed the first sustained heavier-than-air flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with the Wright Flyer (except for those who believe the accounts of Gustave Whitehead’s achievements).
Less well-known is the history of the buildings which Orville and Wilbur Wright used to become the first airplane factory in the United States and the world.
After the successful flight, the Wright brothers spent several years designing different iterations of their flyer until they were able to perfect their design.
In 1909 the brothers founded the Wright Company, occupying part of the Speedwell Motor Car Company factory in the brothers’ hometown of Dayton, Ohio.
The buildings of the Wright Company were busy; between 1910 and 1915, the factory designed and researched thirteen different models and turned out approximately 120 aircraft.
Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville sold his stake in the company three years later. Afterward, the factory was taken over by the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company.
Kettering was a creative engineer and inventor while Deeds was a well-connected executive with National Cash Register (NCR).
The Dayton Airplane Company was reorganized as the Dayton Wright Company upon the declaration of war between the United States and Germany, and the former Wright Company buildings were leased to the newly reorganized Dayton-Wright.
Snippet of History 