Wright Sculpture to be Awarded to Best Replica 

Currently, there are at least two dozen replica Wright airplanes under construction in the United States, and more are being announced all the time. Additionally, there are many people building flying and static models. To encourage this activity and to bring the completed replicas and models to Dayton, Ohio for the Centennial of Flight, we announce a contest for the Wright Brothers Centennial Cup.

Contestants must participate in the Annual Aircraft Parade, a one-of-a-kind event every Independence Day in New Carlisle, Ohio. The airplanes become the floats in the parade as they are pulled through the city streets. For the 2003 parade, we will add vehicles to carry Wright airplane models and their makers. After the parade, we will tow the participants to Barnhart Memorial Airport (the closest civilian airport to Huffman Prairie) for the contest.

The contest is divided into three categories — full-size Wright gliders and airplanes (both static and operational), radio-controlled models, and static models. We've further divided the static models into age groups so young people can participate and compete with their peers — elementary (up to grade 6), junior high (grades 7 through 9), high school (grades 10 through 12), and adult (everything else). We are recruiting qualified judges in each category to inspect the airplanes for historical accuracy and quality of craftsmanship. The RC models will also be judged for airworthiness. This is not a flying contest for replica builders. We will allow full-size replicas to fly provided the builders have the proper certification and insurance, but airworthiness is not a criterion for judging. However, if a replica is built to fly, the judges will ignore those departures from history made for safety and certification. Instead, these changes will be judged for how well they are disguised to preserve the historical appearance of the aircraft. We will award several ribbons and a cup for each category. These "cups" are a sculpture of the first practical airplane, the 1905 Wright Flyer, in flight. We'll also award a cup — the Wright Brothers Centennial Cup — for Best of Show (the same sculpture, but much larger).

To show our appreciation and encourage participation, we offer a small piece of wood from an historic Wright airplane to each builder who brings a full-size Wright replica to the contest. We will inlay this relic into a strut or another wooden part and apply an etched plaque that certifies that the replica was displayed on the home turf of the Wright Brothers during the Centennial of Flight in 2003. This will give each participating replica historic value that will continue to accrue with time.

Would you like to know more? Check our website for information as it develops. If you have a specific question, please ping:
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