In 1978, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first biplane flight on Dec. 17, 1903, the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Section of AIAA began planning for the reconstruction of a full-scale, powered 1903 Wright Flyer. A team of volunteers from the Los Angeles section of AIAA built the replica using precise data from the original airplane provided by the Smithsonian. The replica features a 40-foot, 4-inch wingspan reinforced with piano wire, cotton wing coverings, spruce propellers and a double rudder. Throughout construction of the replica, the Wright Flyer volunteers challenged themselves to use the same type of wood, fabric, and other materials that the Wright Brothers used. For instance, the chains used for driving the propellers were bought from the Diamond Chain Company, who happened to be the Wright Brothers’ supplier in 1903. Amazingly, the company still had the unique chain tooling, so chains identical to those used by the Wright Brothers were made for the replica.

In addition to creating a full-scale, powered replica of the Wright Flyer, the project volunteers wanted to investigate and improve upon the Flyer’s aerodynamic and structural characteristics. In order to compile a historically accurate aerodynamic database for the replica, the full-scale Flyer was scheduled for wind tunnel testing at NASA Ames. The biplane successfully passed static and propeller tests as a prerequisite for entering the wind tunnel. During the static tests, more than three times the flight load (or more than 3,000 pounds) was applied successfully. Testing of the propeller system was conducted at Able Corp. in Yorba Linda, CA. Powered by a NASA electric motor, the replica was then wind tunnel tested during a two-week period in the 40 by 80 feet test section of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) at NASA Ames. Test results gave insights into the replica’s stability, control and handling at speeds up to 30 m.p.h. Data collected will be reported in technical papers presented at AIAA L.A. Section meetings and presentations.

Based on the wind tunnel test data, a second Wright Flyer will be built by the AIAA volunteers and flown at the Raleigh-Durham Airport on Dec. 17, 2003, commemorating the 100th anniversary flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, NC. During a recreation of the Wright Brothers’ first flight, the aircraft will fly low and travel at only 30 m.p.h., the same speed flown by the Wright Brothers, whose first flight traveled only 120 feet during its 12 seconds in the air. Fred Culick of Altadena, CA, a private pilot and an aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, will be the first to fly the airplane.

The completion of this project wouldn’t be possible without the $100,000 worth of materials donated by companies such as Northrop Corp./Aircraft Division, Torrance, CA, International Die Casting, Gardena, CA; McDonnell Douglas, Long Beach, CA; Rockwell International, Downey, CA; and TRW, Redondo Beach, CA. Northrop Corp./Aircraft Division also provided the project a home base for 15 years.

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