Virgin Atlantic Chief Gets All Dolled Up To Fly 1853 Glider Replica

You know, it's hard to outdo someone who's determined to do the impossible.  Especially if he's got a lot of money and time on his hands. 

Virgin Airways honcho Sir Richard Branson wanted to replicate the 1853 flight of the world's first glider.  It was 150 years ago that Sir George Cayley sent his coachman aloft in the primitive, unpowered machine -- much to the coachman's chagrin. In Branson's duplicate attempt Saturday, this British knight did his own flying, thanks awfully.

Branson, ever the fashion plate, wore a 19th century braid-trimmed coat and lace cravat for the flight in the same field where Cayley's glider took off -- at Brompton Dale near Scarborough in the northern English county of Yorkshire. His first attempt failed. On his second try, Branson made it into the air for a few seconds, as a crowd of about 1500 aviation fans cheered.

"Brilliant. We've done it, we've done it!" Branson exclaimed after the successful flight, which lasted only a few seconds. A few moments later, he took a few sips of champagne and told reporters, "That was fantastic. I can fly, we can fly. That was exhilarating."

In what appeared to be a calculated attempt to snub the Centennial of Flight celebrations here in America this year, Branson said most people assume Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first manned flight. "The real birth of modern aviation was achieved by a British pioneer 50 years previously."

FMI: www.virgin.com