Dayton’s aviation heritage on display at world’s biggest air show

NATIONAL AVIATION HERITAGE ALLIANCE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tony Sculimbrene, (937) 475-7627, afs@aviationheritagearea.org; or Jessie Duckro, 44 7712 843 392 (Farnborough, United Kingdom), jld@aviationheritagearea.org

Dayton’s aviation heritage on display at world’s biggest air show

FARNBOROUGH, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND (15 July 2008) – The Dayton region’s aviation heritage is on display at the world’s largest air show as part of the International Pioneers of Flight Pavilion today through July 20.

The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is participating in the 60th Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, at the invitation of the air show’s producers. The producers had met Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, during NAHA’s participation in last year’s Paris Air Show in France.

“It is an absolute honor to have another country invite us and to recognize the importance of the Wright brothers. This may be a first – for multiple aviation pioneers to be celebrated together under one roof. People are walking away talking about it,” said Wright Lane.

The Pioneers of Flight Pavilion, with the help of living ancestors of great aviation pioneers, holds four accurate, full-scale replicas of early 20th century aircraft including the AVRO Biplane (1908), AVRO Triplane (1910), the Cody Flyer (1908), and the Wright B Flyer (1911). The original Wright B Flyer was designed to provide pilot training and reconnaissance for the US army Signal Corps and was used for that purpose from 1911 to 1914. The replica Wright B is being presented by volunteers from NAHA based in the Wright brother’s hometown, Dayton, Ohio. It is sponsored here by Makino, a global leader in metal cutting and manufacturing technology. Makino’s North American headquarters is located in Mason, Ohio, just south of Dayton.

Inspired by the success of the Wright brothers, Samuel P. Cody flew on October 16, 1908 on a field that would evolve to become the site of the FIA. This year’s participation by the Cody Flyer marks the 100th anniversary of the first flight in the United Kingdom. The AVRO company was founded in 1910 by Alliot Verdon Roe and was manufacturing airplanes in Great Britain at the same time the Wrights were building planes in Dayton.

On the show’s opening day, descendants of the three aviation pioneers — Samuel and Peter Cody, Eric Verdon-Roe and Amanda Wright Lane — gathered for the first time and met members of the international news media.

NAHA Chairman John Bosch, said FIA is an important venue for his organization. “Our presence here allows us to promote Dayton as the global center of aviation heritage and we hope, ultimately, that Farnborough visitors will become visitors to Dayton in the near future,” he said.

In addition to the Wright B Flyer 1911 replica, NAHA is presenting a simulator that allows visitors to virtually “fly” a Wright brother’s airplane over the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, the site near Dayton where the brothers perfected flight in 1904 and1905. Farnborough marks the first time this simulator, originally funded by the Wright Family Foundation in 2006, is being presented outside the United States.

FIA is the largest, most internationally attended aerospace event in the world and is a globally renowned showcase of aerospace equipment and technology. It provides a venue for the world’s civil and military aerospace suppliers and their customers to meet and finalize business transactions. More than $40 billion in orders were announced at the 2006 show.

--ENDS—

Photo caption:

080715_wright_cody_avro: From left to right-Peter Cody, Eric Verdon-Roe (grandson of Alliot Verdon-Roe, founder of AVRO), Captain David Rowland (President, The Royal Aeronautical Society), Walt Hoy,(Trustee, Wright B Flyer Inc,) Amanda Wright Lane, (Great-grandneice of the Wright Brothers,) Samuel Franklin John Cody.


The National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA) is a private, not for profit corporation operating as the management entity of the Congressionally designated National Aviation Heritage Area, one of 40 national heritage areas in the United States. NAHA’s vision is for Dayton to become the recognized global center of aviation heritage and premier destination for aviation heritage tourism, sustaining the legacy of the Wright brothers. The National Aviation Heritage Area encompasses an eight county area (Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Warren, Champaign, Shelby, and Auglaize counties.)