The Wright J-5 "Whirlwind" was the first engine reliable enough for a non-stop flight from New York to Paris. By the end of the 1920s, the J-5 had become the engine of choice for world explorers such as Chamberlin, Byrd, Maitland, Smith, Goebel, Jensen, and Brock. It was also widely used in three-engine passenger planes built by Fokker and Ford.

The Whirlwind was a nine-cylinder air-cooled static radial displacing 788 cubic inches and producing about 220 hp. It traces its roots to the Lawrance J-1, a radial designed by Charles L. Lawrance to meet a US Navy requirement for air-cooled engines to power ship-based aircraft. Lawrance won the Collier Trophy in 1927 for  developing radial air-cooled aircraft engines.