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Meanwhile:
How about a
little music?
We have a selection of tunes that were popular during the first days of aviation, performed by Sue Keller, courtesy the Ragtime Press:

Ken Whiting flew helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for the Coast Guard, then attended Dana's aircraft mechanics school when he left the service. Ken's flawless craftsmanship and attention to detail impressed Dana, and he invited him to stick around. The two began working on old aircraft together.

When they began to plan The Flight of the Vin Fiz, building the aircraft was the least of their worries. "That's the easy part," explained Dana. "It's not a difficult aircraft to build or fly."

But Dana  bit off more than just the Vin Fiz. He decided to begin by making a flying reproduction of one of the earlier Wright canard aircraft, such as a Model A or the Flyer series. "The Flight of the Vin Fiz is a big project with a bigger cost. I wasn't sure that I cold find the funding for it," he says. "I knew I had to build at least one aircraft to attract potential sponsors. But if none of them wanted pay for a transcontinental flight, at least I'd have a Wright aircraft to take around to air shows." Dana and Ken decided to make an early Wright, one with a canard or elevator out front, because it would be more familiar to most people. It would look similar to the first airplane that flew at Kitty Hawk.

If they made an early Model EX — the models from late 1909 and early 1910 were equipped with canards — then most of the parts would be interchangeable with the later 1911 Model EX — the same model that Cal Rodgers flew. They could easily shift production from the 1910 to the 1911 model once they captured a sponsor.

There was a hitch to this plan, and it was a big one. There hasn't been a flying Wright canard aircraft on this side of the Atlantic in almost 90 years. There is one flying in Germany and another in Italy, both copied from European-built Model A's. Fortunately for the Europeans, they have preserved a reasonably complete set of plans. No such luck for Americans. Wilbur and Orville were great inventors, but they worked mostly in their heads and committed very few drawings to paper. They did not even begin to make engineering drawings until they were producing Model B's and had discarded the canard configuration.

Why not copy one of the existing Wright canard aircraft, such as the 1903 Flyer 1 at the Smithsonian? For good reason. It's a little known fact that the Flyer 1 on display is not the original airplane, but a replica built by Orville in 1926 using pieces of the original. He reconstructed it from memory — he had no plans. And he wasn't concerned about making it fly; he just wanted to get it together to display it in England. Much later, when scientists performed computer analyses and wind tunnel tests on precise copies of this airplane, they found it not to be airworthy. Members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) who performed the most recent wind tunnel tests have gone as far as to say, "It's doubtful that the Flyer 1 could fly in its present configuration."

The story is much the same for the 1905 Flyer 3, the world's first practical airplane, now preserved at Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio. It, too, is a clone reconstructed from memory in 1948. Several years ago, when a National Geographic team built a precise copy, they could not make it fly.

What about the 1909 Military Flyer in the Smithsonian? It, too, is suspect. When the U.S. Army Signal Corps operated it, they altered the airplane over and over again as aeronautical science developed. When it was finally retired, it was returned to its original configuration as well as anyone could remember by looking at early photos. Once again, there were no drawings to go by.

Faced with this problem, Dana and Ken handled it much the same way Wilbur and Orville might have. They built an airplane, then tested it -- cautiously. They began by taxiing the aircraft, testing for control effectiveness. They made small changes in all the control elements, one thing at a time, until they arrived a responsive configuration. Then they began to make short flying hops, and once again made small changes in center of gravity, wing angles, and the size and position of control surfaces. Finally, they made true flights and  followed a disciplined program of making small changes one at a time.

In four years, from 1996 to 1999, they repeated the same adventure that the Wright brothers experienced at Huffman Prairie. And like the Wrights, they arrived at a practical airplane  — the first Wright canard aircraft to fly on this side of the Atlantic since the Wrights began to manufactured the Model B.

Dana does not claim that his 1910 Wright Model EX is a precise reproduction. "There are no drawings or any early EX's to copy, so how could it be exact?" he asks. He has also chosen safety over history on several important components. The engine is modern and reliable, instead of the "stubborn, temperamental, humorless thing" the Wrights made do with. The control system is much more logical — any pilot with stick time in a Piper Cub would feel at home in the cockpit. And there is a ballistic parachute hidden in the top wing. "Cheap life insurance," Dana explains. But for all that, he and Ken have made the EX fly the same way the Wrights did — variable-camber canard, warping wings, twin rudders, and bent-end, low-speed props. One gets the distinct impression that even if this airplane is not a precise reproduction, it very well could be one the Wright brothers might have built if they had kept on improving their original product.

With the 1910 EX in the air and a primary sponsor in the offing, Dana and Ken have turned to the 1911's they need for The Flight of the Vin Fiz — two complete aircraft and parts for two more. As they expected, construction has progressed quickly. After working for 4 hard years on the 1910 EX, they are well along the learning curve. "We know how these things go together," says Dana. He and Ken are now putting the finishing touches on one of their 1911 reproductions, in preparation for its Dayton debut in July.

Dana Smith, assembling the cockpit of the Model EX.

Ken Whiting, tuning the flying wires.

The Model EX is built up from the center section. First you attach the skids and landing gear.

Then the tail boom, the wings....

...and the canard.

Rig the aircraft and tune up all the cables.

Finally, bolt the propellers in place on the shafts.

Check the air in the tires, the oil in the engine, and the coolant in the radiator.

Give the aircraft a thorough walk-around inspection.

Grasp the aircraft by the canard and roll it out of the hanger.

Once on the taxiway, decide whose turn it is to fly.

Carefully climb into the cockpit -- this may be the most difficult part of the entire procedure.

And contact! If it's a windy day, you may need several good friends to hold the aircraft and keep the wind from picking up a wing.

Taxi into position.