W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

ORDNANCE ENGINEERING (ORENCO) TYPE B USA

   In 1917, Etienne Dormoy, formerly a designer with the Societe Pour Aviation et ses Derives (SPAD) and a member of the French Aeronautical Mission to the USA, designed a single-seat fighter for the Ordnance Engineering Corporation founded in the previous year. This concern (which was to use the acronym Orenco from early 1919) completed a prototype known as the Type B (the Type A having been a two-seat training biplane) which was flown early in 1918. A two-bay staggered biplane of wooden construction, the Type B was powered by a 160 hp Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine and was intended to carry an armament of three 0.3-in (7,62-mm) Marlin machine guns - one beneath the upper wing and two beneath the lower wing. Four examples were ordered by the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps (together with five examples of the Type C trainer derivative), but the US government had meanwhile elected to manufacture proven European fighters, and no series production of the Type B was therefore undertaken.

Max speed, 135 mph (217 km/h) at sea level.
Time to 5,000 ft (1525 m), 3.3 min.
Range, 200 mis (322 km).
Empty weight, 935 lb (424 kg).
Loaded weight, 1,295 lb (587 kg).
Span, 26 ft 0 in (7,92 m).
Length, 18 ft 10 in (5,74 m).
Height, 7 ft 4 in (2,23 m).
Wing area, 180 sq ft (16,72 m2).