The Dayton-Wright Airplane Company was formed in 1917 by a group of Ohio investors including Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds of the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO). Orville Wright lent his name and served as consultant. The company received two government contracts to produce two types of planes for the World War I conflict: DeHavilland DH-4’s and the Jenny Standard SJ-1.
The main plant on the west side of Springboro Pike in Moraine manufactured 3,106 out of 4,846 DH-4 bombers, the only American built airplane to see action in WWI and was America’s first bomber. The DH-4 was powered by the famous Liberty Engine. Many of the DH-4’s were detained b y the government after the war and served as the mainstay for the fledgling U.S. Army Air Service during the 1920’s.
