Object 38: Replica of Wright Brothers Model B Airplane

Even as the most powerful battleships ever to float were still under construction during the first decades of the 20th century, they nevertheless were on the verge of being made obsolete by a new emerging technology, the airplane. Although much of the naval senior leadership still believed in the concept of the battle fleet, even in the early days there were visionaries in naval aviation who saw the potential of this new technology.  Most of the first naval aviators conducted their training right on the banks of the Severn River across from the Naval Academy, and they used aircraft identical to our object today, a replica of one of the earliest naval aircraft built by the Wright Brothers.