Bolts, Miscelleanous Parts, Dayton-Wright DH-4
date: label: Date
content: 1917-1918
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Dayton-Wright Airplane Co.
notes: label: Physical Description
content: Two bolts and two nuts; the nuts are coated with an off-white coating which has experienced loss from wear and use over time.
label: Summary
content: The United States possessed no combat-worthy aircraft upon entry into World War I in 1917. Several European aircraft were considered. The British DH-4 was selected because of its comparatively simple construction and its apparent adaptability to mass production. It was also well-suited to the new American 400-horsepower Liberty V-12 engine. American-built DH-4s were dubbed the "Liberty Plane." By war's end, 13 Army Air Service squadrons, five of them bomber squadrons, were equipped with them. In addition, four combined Navy-Marine squadrons were flying DH-4s along the Belgian coast. Of the 4,346 DH-4s built in the United States, 1,213 were delivered to France, but of those only 696 reached the Zone of Advance. In the postwar period, the DH-4 was the principal aircraft used by the U.S. Government when air mail service began in 1918.
label: Summary
content: The DH-4 in the NASM collection was the prototype American-built DH-4, manufactured by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company. This airplane was used in more than 2,600 experiments until its retirement in April 1919. On May 13, 1918, Orville Wright made his last flight as a pilot in a 1911 Wright Model B alongside this DH-4, flown by Howard Max Rinehart. He then made a flight as a passenger in the DH-4 with Rinehart.
label: Alternate Name
content: De Havilland DH-4
label: Key Accomplishment(s)
content: First Combat Aircraft Mass Produced in the U.S.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from the U.S. War Department, Bureau of Aircraft Production
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19190051015
objectType: label: Type
content: CRAFT-Aircraft Parts
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Steel
label: Materials
content: Coating
label: Dimensions
content: 3-D: 5.1 × 1 × 1cm (2 × 3/8 × 3/8 in.)