Centennial Flyer Takes Center Stage

The Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company of Dayton (OH) spent the day Wednesday reassembling their Centennial Flyer, a replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer, in the Exhibit Hall at the Cincinnati Convention Center in anticipation of today's opening of the 14th Annual Women in Aviation Conference.

The Centennial Flyer is just one of the archeological collections recreated by the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company to celebrate and educate people, especially young people, about how the Wright Brothers finally got to a flying airplane. Nick Engler, pilot and Director of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, has taken four years to construct a sequence of full-scale flying replicas of the 1900, 1901 and 1902 (shown) Wright Gliders as well as a 1903 Wright Flyer—the airplane that made the first flight in Kitty Hawk (NC) on December 17, 1903.

"The point of aviation archeology is to discover the processes by which these brilliant inventors succeeded in learning to fly," says Marion Schniegenberg, Director of Communications/Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company. "We are onsite at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, where we build the airplanes daily, in front of people who visit the museum."

"We couldn’t be more pleased to participate in the Women in Aviation Conference this centennial year," says Schniegenberg. The plane is sponsored by the Dayton International Airport and the U.S. Air & Trade Show. (The Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company airplanes and gliders will be an anchor attraction at this year’s Dayton International Air Show, July 17 thru 20th.)

The 14th Annual Women in Aviation Conference is being held in Cincinnati through Saturdayor

FMI: www.wiai.org