The Dayton-Wright XO-3 was an aircraft project developed by

Dayton-Wright 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 E ...

in 1924.

Design and development

A contemporary of the successful

Douglas O-2 The Douglas O-2 was a 1920s American observation aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Development The important family of Douglas observation aircraft sprang from two XO-2 prototypes, the first of which was powered by the 420 hp ...

, it was an orthodox two seat

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, powered by a

Wright T-3 The Wright T-3 Tornado, also given the USAF designation Wright V-1950 was an American liquid-cooled aircraft piston engine, designed in the early 1920s.V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...

. The prototype, numbered 23-1254, built by Wright Aeronautical after the demise of Dayton-wright, was allocated the Wright field number P-376.

Operational history

After trials at Wright Field the XO-3 was rejected and returned to Wright Aeronautical, where it saw service as an engine test-bed, primarily for the

Wright R-1750 Cyclone Wright Cyclone was the name given to a family of air-cooled Radial engine, radial piston engines designed by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and used in numerous United States, American aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. Background The Wright ...

, with the civil registration ''X-1087''. Officially it was named ''Mohawk'' by Wright, but unofficially it received the sobriquet ''Iron Horse''.

Specifications (XO-3)

References

{{USAAF observation aircraft Biplanes

XO-3 XO-3 is a star in the constellation Camelopardalis. The star has a magnitude of 10 and is not visible to the naked eye but is visible through a small telescope. A search for a binary companion star using adaptive optics at the MMT Observ ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft