ilbur and Orville always seemed to be building something. They were brought up to it by their mother, Susan Koerner Wright. Her father, John  Koerner, was a skilled carriage maker and taught his daughter to work with tools. She made many of her her own  home appliances, as well as toys for her children. More important, she passed these skills to her children. The Wright brothers built their first flying machine, a rubber band-powered helicopter, when Orv was 8 years old and Will was 12. Later, Orville made kites and sold them to his friends. Wilbur invented a machine that folded the United Brethren newspaper his father published. Together they  made furniture, printing presses, bicycles, gliders, and airplanes. Their lives seemed to revolve around their workshop.

It's no wonder that the Wright story seems to attract people who like to work with their hands. And because of that, any Wright Brothers Museum worth the price of admission needs a "hand on" section, a place where folks can get down and dirty with aviation history. In this virtual workshop, we'll help you to find plans and information for airplanes and models you would like to build. We'll also lead you through aeronautical experiments and demonstrate some of the skills needed to build pioneer aircraft.

Another one of their workshops was recently restored at 22 South Williams Street in Dayton, Ohio. This is where they where building bicycles in 1896 when they first became seriously interested in flight.

Here's what's happening in our virtual workshop:

• The Box Experiment -- Wilbur Wright was fiddling with an inner tube box in 1899 when an idea suddenly occurred to him for an effective way to control an aircraft in flight. Repeat the simple experiment the opened the Age of Aviation.

• Building the 1899 Wright Kite -- Complete plans for an historic replica or a 5/8-scale easy-to-build Not Quite Wright Kite. We also include instructions for flying the kite.

• Building the 1900 Wright Glider -- A single sheet of plans (elevations and details) for the Wrights first man-carrying aircraft.

• Building the 1901 Wright Glider -- A single sheet of plans (elevations and details) for the Wright's second and most frustrating aircraft.

• Building the 1901 Wright Wind Tunnel -- Complete engineering drawings (9 sheets) for the wind tunnel, air scoop, impeller, lift balance, drag balance, and all the known airfoils that the Wrights used in their lift and drag experiments.

• Building the 1902 Wright Glider -- Complete engineering drawings for the first aircraft ever with 3-axis control -- 20 pages in all! Yours free with our fond wishes for a great Centennial of Flight in 2003.

• Plans and Blueprints -- Looking for plans for your Wright airplane project? We've collected a few sources for you.

• Model Kits -- If you don't want to make a Wright airplane from scratch, there are a few kits available for sale. Here's what we've found.

• Pioneer Models -- We discovered the plans for several rubber band-powered model aircraft in  ancient copies of Flying magazine. Here's what kids were building in 1910 and 1911,  when an airplane still seemed as magical as a flying carpet.

• Aircraft Materials -- Looking for materials from which to build Wright airplanes. We can help with everything from cloth to engine castings. 

By the way, we've constructed a special workshop in Dayton, Ohio where the public can watch us as we build Wright aircraft. We are a "living exhibition" of pioneer aviation at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery , 2600 Deweese Parkway just north of downtown Dayton. The Boonshoft has generously provided space for us to assemble aircraft such as the 1903 Wright Flyer 1 we will take to Kitty Hawk later in 2003 and the 1905 Wright Flyer III that will fly sometime next year. 

Our replica of the 1878 Wright Bat, made in our own workshop.

Our replica of the 1899 Wright Kite, soaring during the 100th anniversary of the Wright brother's kite experiment.

We've completed and test flown all three of the Wright gliders.

We've also finished a replica of the 1901 Wright wind tunnel and balance -- and have discovered a few things the biographers never tell you. Read the story HERE.

Need a complete set of castings for the 1903 Wright Flyer engine? The only place on the 'net you can get 'em is right HERE.