WW1 USAAS Army Aircraft – MAIN FUSELAGE DATA PLATE – DH-4 "LIBERTY PLANE" – RARE

The DH.4 was developed as a two-seat combat aircraft, for both day bomber and aerial reconnaissance missions. It was to have been powered by the new 160 hp (120 kW) Beardmore Halford Pullinger (BHP) engine, but problems with that resulted in numerous other engines being used, perhaps the best of which was the 375 hp (280 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. The DH.4 first flew in August 1916 and it entered operational service in France on 6 March 1917 less than a year later. The majority were manufactured as general purpose two-seaters in the United States for the American expeditionary forces in France. 

At the time of entry of the United States into the First World War on 6 April 1917, the aviation section of the U.S. Signal Corps was unprepared, not being equipped with any aircraft suitable for combat. However, considerable optimism and energy was put into addressing this identified need, leading to the mobilization of American industry to set about the production of contemporary combat aircraft. As there were no suitable aircraft domestically, a technical commission, known as the Bolling Commission, was dispatched to Europe to seek out the best available combat aircraft and to make arrangements to enable their production to be established in the United States. As a result of the efforts of the Bolling Commission, the DH.4, along with the Bristol F.2 Fighter, the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5, and French SPAD S.XIII were selected. On 27 July 1917, a single DH.4 was sent to the United States as a pattern aircraft. It was not until 1918 that the first American-built DH.4s came off the production line. Several different manufacturers, including the Boeing Airplane Corporation, Dayton-Wright Company, the Fisher Body Corporation, and the Standard Aircraft Corporation produced this Americanized variant of the DH.4, featuring over 1,000 modifications from the original British design, to equip the American air services. A total of 9,500 DH.4s were ordered from American manufacturers, of which 1,885 actually reached France during the war. In American production, the new Liberty engine, which had proved suitable as a DH.4 power plant, was adopted. The Liberty was also eventually adopted by the British to power the DH.9A variant of the type.

Made of aluminum, this is an EXTREMELY RARE piece. It features 95% original paint, and all markings are very legible.  It indicates:

THE DAYTON WRIGHT
AIRPLANE CO.
DAYTON, OH.

The last images depict the exact type of aircraft this plate was removed from. A PERFECT addition to any collection, display, or restoration project!