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 The Wright Seaplane Base / Wright Model G "Aeroboat" : Marker #17-57 Posted by:  DougK
N 39° 40.787 W 084° 14.058
16S E 737195 N 4395874
This marker was placed in 2010 and is located in the Miami & Erie Canal Park along Marina Drive in West Carrolton, Ohio. Each side of the plaque has different text.
Waymark Code: WMCV5Z
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2011
Views: 17
This marker was placed in 2010 and is located in the Miami & Erie Canal Park along Marina Drive in West Carrolton, Ohio. Each side of the plaque has different text.
Side one, facing the parking lot reads:
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THE WRIGHT
SEAPLANE BASE
After Wilbur Wright died in 1912, Orville Wright continued to develop and fly airplanes for the Wright Company. Orville flew seaplanes along this part of the Great Miami River from 1913 to 1914. This area had three advantages: deep water formed by a hydraulic dam, freedom from man-made obstructions, and a 90 degree bend in the river that allow him to take off and land either north-south or east-west, depending on prevailing winds. In June and July 1913, Orville made more than 100 flights, frequently with passengers, in the Wright Model C-H "hydroplane." In 1913 and 1914, Orville and Wright Co. chief engineer Grover Loening developed the Wright Model G "aeroboat."
THE WRIGHT SEAPLANE BASE, INC.
THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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The opposite side reads:
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WRIGHT
MODEL G "AEROBOAT"
The Wright Model G "Aeroboat" had a solid hull or fuselage with enclosed cockpit. The aircraft was 28 feet long, had a wingspan of 38 feet, and weighed approximately 1,250 pounds. Powered by two rear-mounted engines and propelled by twin pusher propellers, the Model G's maximum speed was 60 miles per hour. It's believed that Orville's last flight in the Model G was on August 20, 1914. On that day, Orville, accompanied by student pilot and Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting, narrowly escaped drowning when a wing broke on their aircraft and the plane fell into the Miami River from an altitude of 30 feet.
THE WRIGHT SEAPLANE BASE, INC.
THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Marker Number: 17-57
County: Montgomery
Significance of Location: Place
Bicentenial Mark: no
Website address: [Web Link]
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate description: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
If possible, unique photographs taken at the site, are requested. These can be of the site, your companions on your visit, or whatever. Tell of what you learned or thought of the site.
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