1905 Bicentennial Flyer to Fly for a Quarter!

In cooperation with the Transportation Committee of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company and Wright Recreations, Inc. will jointly build an operational replica of the 1905 Flyer. We have begun to contact Ohio schools, asking to conduct hands-on aircraft-building workshops. These workshops were originally developed at the WACO Aviation Learning Center of Troy, Ohio — kids are taught how an airplane works while they build a generic airplane rib. We have adapted this workshop by using the story of the invention of the airplane to dramatize the basic aerodynamics and substituting a Flyer rib for the generic one.

We will conduct these workshops on weekends or evenings. In some cases, we may conduct a workshop in conjunction with "The Spirit of Dayton Program," a portable museum of the Wright brothers that has toured schools from New Hampshire to Texas. It illustrates the story of the Wright brothers and addresses school proficiency requirements in both social studies and science. The young people who attend the workshop will participate in the construction of a Flyer rib. Each participant will sign the rib, and we will take the rib with us back to Dayton where we will test it for airworthiness.

In a space thoughtfully provided by America's Packard Museum, we will assemble the airworthy ribs into an operational airframe. Here again we will ask young people to help us, putting together a construction team from kids in the Miami Valley. If there any extra ribs or ribs that fail our strength tests, we will remove the names with a veneer saw and apply them to the Flyer spars. We will also have the kids who help us with the assembly sign the spars so the signatures of all the young participants are captured. Wright Recreations will provide the engine, power train, and propellers to complete the Flyer.

While we are assembling the Flyer at the Packard Museum, we will build a replica of the 1904 Wright hangar and launching derrick on land kindly offered by the WACO Aviation Museum of Troy, Ohio. Beginning in the summer of 2002, we will begin flight testing at WACO Field and plan to have the operational aircraft ready for inspection and certification by the FAA in late summer or early fall. Once the aircraft is safe to fly, and our pilots are properly trained, we will begin to make exhibit flights around Ohio in support of bicentennial events. We hope to have this airplane in the air for the introduction of Ohio's quarter dollar in 2002. This quarter is expected to feauture an image of the 1905 Flyer, which was developed and testsed entirely within the State of Ohio. Again, we will draw our ground crew from interested young people so they can continue to participate in this adventure.

Would you like to get involved? Maybe help run a workshop in your area? Please ping:
mailto:[email protected]
or write:
Bicentennial Flyer Project
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company
P.O. Box 204
West Milton, OH  45383