Celebrating The National Centennial Of Flight

The Franklin Air Show, The Franklin Institute's newest exhibit on aviation, opens to the public on Saturday, October 18, 2003, after seven months of intensive renovations. The 5,000- square-foot permanent exhibit will immerse visitors in the simulated environment of an actual air show and introduce them to the history, majesty, science and technology of powered flight.
 
"The Franklin Air Show marks the fifth new exhibit that The Franklin Institute has opened in the past three years," said Dennis Wint, Ph.D., President and CEO of The Franklin Institute. "One of our favorite sayings - `if you haven't been here recently, you haven't been here at all' - certainly rings true."

The Franklin Air Show, based in Philadelphia (PA), contains over 20 interactive devices in three environments - an aircraft hangar, a midway, and a pilot training area - showcasing the historical and contemporary facets of aviation and aeronautical technologies and the life stories of a broad spectrum of aviation pioneers, including the Wright Brothers, Bessie Coleman, the Tuskegee Airmen, and Amelia Earhart. Visitors will explore basic physics concepts demonstrated by the properties of air and the forces of flight.

The Franklin Air Show emulates a busy, lively air show with the roaring sounds and shapes of planes overhead. Theatrical and technical effects create a sky-like effect, grass and tarmac surface, and planes zooming overhead. Would-be pilots have the opportunity to earn their wings at several training stations. A new flight simulator lets visitors try a variety of maneuvers, including a 360-degree roll. The 1948 T-33 jet trainer (one of the most successful jet trainers ever built) shows visitors how to handle real jet controls, while other interactives introduce cockpit controls, the principles of flight and how they impact aircraft design.

The centerpiece of The Franklin Air Show is the Wright 1911 Model B Flyer, the most intact Wright airplane remaining in the world (including the one at the Smithsonian), according to Dick Alkire and Nelson Hall, two of the men who worked on the year-long restoration of the flyer and engine, at Aeroplane Works in Dayton, Ohio. On display at The Franklin Institute from 1935 to 2001, the airplane has been restored to the condition of its first flight, with its muslin-covered wings and workable engine.

The Institute's Model B Flyer - No. 39 - was one of the first mass- produced aircraft ever built and was the first plane to fly non-stop from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. "This particular Flyer has a rich and eccentric local history," explains Franklin Institute Senior Curator John Alviti. "Before the Institute acquired the Flyer in 1933, it was owned by Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, grandson of a wealthy Philadelphia beer baron. The plane was in such good shape because Bergdoll never crashed and flew for only two years." Bergdoll flew 748 flights without a mishap and logged 312 hours and 34 minutes total air time. His last flight was in 1914.

The Franklin Air Show includes two- and three-dimensional artifacts from the Wright Aeronautical Engineering Collection, willed to The Franklin Institute by Orville Wright. Artifacts include original airfoils, scraps of wallpaper the Wright Brothers used to record measurements while doing their wind tunnel tests, and drawings of the original 1903 flyer. As the first scientific organization to give the Wright Brothers credit and ranking for achieving sustained powered flight, The Franklin Institute had a strong relationship with Orville Wright. In 1933, Orville Wright and Amelia Earhart presided at the grand opening celebration for the Institute's Aviation Hall. In 1914 and 1933, the Institute presented medals to the Wright Brothers in recognition of their scientific achievement.

The opening of The Franklin Air Show coincides with the national Centennial of Flight celebration of the Wright Brothers' first flight over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, which took place on December 17, 1903. The world will pause to recall the innovative spirit that lifted two bright bicycle- makers from Ohio to controlled powered flight above the sandy dunes of North Carolina. Their curiosity, scientific inquiry, and passion for flight opened the skies on that December day and made the world a little smaller. Today, The Franklin Institute's exhibits and educational programs inspire young scientists to pursue their own curiosity, follow their own inquiry, and find their passion for science.

FMI: www.fi.edu