Now that I think about it, I wonder if it is a post war conversion/amalgam. Sometimes OX-5s and other engines were substituted for the rotaries, and sometimes an extra seat was added. Wings were mixed up too. The bottom wing could be a top wing, accounting for the equal span, the ailerons and the lack of dihedral.

The top wing looks like there are two spots in the center section where the cranks were on the S4C. There seem to be no ailerons on top. So it is a top wing from a C modified to eliminate aileron function. The empennage is from a B. Lots of strange combinations and modifications turned up after the war, and I suspect this is one of them.

This is a Thomas-Morse S-1A, which I have found only in this photo from the San Diego Air & Space Museum collection, which is available on Flickr. The photo was apparently taken at Renwick Park in Ithaca, NY, where I live. I was amazed when I saw it because in doing research on Thomas Aeroplane Company and Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation I have never seen even a single reference to this machine, even though I have copies of several of their catalogs.

I’m going to give it to RAB for correctly identifying the manufacturer, Thomas-Morse, on the basis of the tail. The S-6 is not a bad guess, but it had a rotary engine whereas this one had apparently a water-cooled V, probably the Thomas version of the Sturtevant which they were trying to market at the time. There were other differences too. The identifying features of the tail are the turtle deck, with its almost parallel stringers, and the fin/rudder, and especially the elevators, which look identical to those of the S-4B Scout.

I’ve attached a photo of the S-6, and an S-4 B, for comparison. On to you, RAB. Jim

You guys are too good for me, so I’ll grab a free opening…

The Wrights did not use a catapult to launch until September 1904. They had several flights before that time, without a catapult, that anyone else would have been thrilled to claim as first controlled flights. They, however, were frustrated because their objective in 1904 was to make coordinated turns. The light, variable winds were not allowing them many opportunities to get off the ground. At Huffman Prairie they used a rail like the one they used at Kitty Hawk. With the wind problem they had to use a longer rail, and every time the wind would shift they’d have to move it. The catapult was a simple device that solved the problem and worked reliably. It required no headwind at all. In October both Wilbur and Orville made several circling lights. In 1905 they corrected the pitch instability problem and improved their coordination of turns by disconnecting the link between warping and rudder, and by improving their flying technique. They made long flights, including figure 8s as well as circles, achieved excellent control, and could glide in after running out of gas and slide to a stop in front of the shed. Their 1905 machine was a practical airplane. At that point, no one else had even achieved a straight line controlled flight. It was in no way a dead end.

Even their 1902 glider has to be regarded as the first modern aircraft. It was the first to be designed with wind tunnel data, the first to achieve a modern degree of aerodynamic efficiency, it could stay up six times longer than the previous gliding record, and it solved the problems of spiral mode instability and adverse yaw.

Jim