Dayton-Wright PS-1
Страна: США
Год: 1922


The Dayton Wright XPS-1, seen here, represented the radical approach to applied research, as opposed to the evolutionary path chosen by Handley Page with his HP 17. Whereas Handley Page tested a single, albeit significant, development aboard an otherwise tried and tested airframe and engine combination, Dayton Wright elected to carry all of their innovative eggs in one basket. What was all the more surprising about the XPS-1 is that Dayton Wright, of all people, should have known better. The XPS-1 was, in essence, little more than an improved Rhinehart-Baumann RB-1, built by the company for the 1920 James Gordon Bennett race. Both used the same interlocked system of landing gear retraction and wing camber alteration that could seldom be made to work properly. If nothing else, all three XPS-1s built simply demonstrated that the one thing a military aircraft needs to be is reliable.