Dayton-Wright Messenger

T-4 Messenger
Role	Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer	Dayton-Wright
Designer	Oliver Thomas
First flight	1918
Number built	1

The Dayton-Wright T-4 Messenger was a light, single-seat reconnaissance aircraft built in the United States in 1918 in the hope of gaining a production contract from the United States Army. It was a small conventional single-bay biplane with a neatly streamlined fuselage and staggered, equal-span wings. The undercarriage was of fixed tailskid type and the pilot sat in an open cockpit. Although diminutive, the design in fact started life as a scaled-up version of the Dayton-Wright Bug and shared a family resemblance to the de Havilland DH.4 that Dayton-Wright was building under licence during World War I. When the US Army was not interested in the aircraft, plans were made to sell it on the civil market, but these came to nothing and the prototype was the only example ever built.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Length: 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
• Wingspan: 19 ft 3 in (5.87 m)
• Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
• Wing area: 9.85 ft² (106 m²)
• Empty weight: 476 lb (216 kg)
• Gross weight: 636 lb (288 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × De Palma V-4 2-stroke engine, 37 hp (28 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 85 mph (137 km/h)

References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp. 305. 
• Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1919. London: Sampson Low. pp. 455.