Wright Model A

Wright Model A/Military Flyer
A replica Wright Military Flyer at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
Role	Demonstrator/trainer
Manufacturer	Wright Company
First flight	1908
Number built	ca.60
Unit cost	$25,000 plus $5,000 bonus (first 1909 Military Flyer only)
Variants	Wright Model B

The Wright Model A was an early aircraft produced by the Wright Brothers in the United States beginning in 1906. It was a development of their Flyer III airplane of 1905. The Wrights built about seven Model As in their bicycle shop during the period 1906–1907 in which they did no flying. One of these was shipped to Le Havre in 1907 in order to demonstrate it to the French. The Model A had a 35-horsepower (26 kW) engine and seating for two with a new control arrangement. Otherwise it was identical to the 1905 airplane. The Model A was the first aircraft that they offered for sale, and the first aircraft design to enter serial production anywhere in the world. Apart from the seven machines the Wrights built themselves in 1906–1907, they sold licences for production in Europe with the largest number of Model As actually being produced in Germany by Flugmaschine Wright GmbH, which built about 60 examples.

The 1909 Military Flyer was a one-of-a-kind Model A built by the Wright Brothers. With wings shortened two feet and the same engine salvaged from the 1908 Wright Military Flyer wrecked at Fort Myer, it differed from the standard Wright A in size and had a faster speed. The aircraft was demonstrated at Fort Myer, Virginia beginning June 28, 1909 for the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which offered a contract of $25,000 ($666,389 in 2008 dollars) for an aircraft capable of flying at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) with two people on board for a distance of 125 miles (201 km). After rigorous trials the Signal Corps accepted the airplane as "Signal Corps (S.C.) No. 1", August 2, 1909, paying the brothers $30,000 ($799,667 in 2012 US dollars).

The planes were not referred to as 'Model A' by the Wrights. The term by best accounts was created by the U. S. Army after purchasing their Flyer of 1909 and purchasing later Model Bs. At different times prior to 1909 they were called 'Wilbur Wright machine', 'Wright 1905 Flyer' and by later surviving Wright pilots and personnel 'twin-propellered Wright with head'. the head meaning the front elevator. As more Wright models were built after 1910 their natural designations became B, C, D etc. to differentiate one model from the other. Later aviation historians and biographers continued with 'Model A' in providing a chronological timeline for each of the different model of Wright aircraft.