By Fly-Low Correspondent Henrietta Christensen

ANN Note: We are pleased to be very good friends with a wonderful little regional publication by the name of Fly-Low. Published by Ralph McCormick, we're pleased to note that every now and then he sends us a neat story from Fly-Low to share with ANN readers all over the world. Here's a good one...

"Hallelujah!" hollered Bill Ghan as pilot Don Nevels (below, center) throttled up the Missouri homebuilt Wright Flyer replica and lifted off the runway.

"I knew it would fly!" Bill Ghan stated proudly as his Wright Flyer replica made its first sustained flight on Saturday, January 10, 2004. It maintained twenty miles per hour for 290 feet, and reaching an altitude of about ten feet above the runway. The hand made aircraft stayed aloft for 9.67 seconds in its second attempt to replicate the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

"I wasn't sure it would fly or not. I kind of really found myself in the air before I was ready" exclaimed Nevels, who flew for twelve years as a commercial pilot with United Airlines. Later, he signed Ghan's airplane log book.

"I don't think I'd fly it again," remarked Nevels.

Bill Ghan, a retired teacher from Mansfield (MO), had spent many years coaching his shop classes through the technicalities of aircraft building. One such project was the construction of a replica wing from the one used on Orville and Wilbur's Flyer. Ghan decided about four years ago to build the rest of the aircraft around that wing.

Aerodynamically, the reproduction is almost identical to Wilbur and Orville's Flyer. "Risk management" changes were made according to builder Bill Ghan. Using modern aircraft cable tightened with turnbuckles, Ghan’s Flyer is much more rigid than the original, which had hand tightened piano wire.

Another small change included the pilot’s ability to warp the wings with a conventional steering wheel. Doing so, sitting upright rather than warping the wings by shifting body weight while lying prone on the wing, as the Wrights did in 1903.

The modern four cylinder Subaru engine produced much more power than the original engine which produced twelve horsepower. That allowed that the headwind needed to lift off could be lower than that needed by the Wrights -- which related to lower risks for the test flight.

Impressed by the Wright's propellers, Ghan followed the dimensions and shape of the originals when carving the propellers for the 2003 Flyer. He laminated eight one-by-six maple boards for each prop, and chain sawed them into rough shape. Another risk management feature is the doped fabric placed on each sanded and finished prop, reducing the chance of delaminating as the props rotate at about 425 RPM.
 
With the help of his fellow EAA Chapter 1218 members, Ghan doggedly followed his goal until December 16, 2003, at the Willow Springs Airport, the day before it was to fly. The FAA had certified the replica Wright Flyer as airworthy.

The weather was almost perfect for the first attempt on December 17th, with a warm breeze coming right up the runway and sunny skies. Bus loads of excited school kids and safety personnel from the city of Willow Springs (MO) waited while a throng of EAA members finished last minute details on the plane. Bill Ghan (below, right) coaxed the Flyer back and forth down the runway, attempting his first flight to recreate history on that Wednesday in December.

But it was not to happen. Although Ghan achieved one small hop off of the runway, sustained flight eluded him. A mechanical linkage, driving the propellers, was the culprit, and the Flyer was towed back into the hangar for some rebuilding. Spirits were high, though, in anticipation of the next attempt.

Nevels' flight mirrored closely the Wright brother's first flights at Kitty Hawk. Their first attempt netted Orville twelve seconds and a distance of 120 feet, while Wilbur made it 852 feet later in the day back in 1903. Their flights, as well as Nevels' flight, caused minor damage to the Flyer on landing.

The success of this local flight is phenomenal, in the respect that the EAA also attempted to recreate the "first flight" at Kitty Hawk on December 17th. Its reproduction Flyer had been test flown several times before, and needed about 20 miles per hour wind to fly. At Kitty Hawk, it rained most of the morning, then the wind dropped, and the EAA reproduction Flyer never quite got off the ground.

Until modifications could be made by Ghan and his crew of EAA Chapter 1218 helpers, and until winter cooperated again on January 10, 2004, the Wright Flyer sat ghost-like in the hangar, waiting to fly to its place in history.

After some repair, Bill Ghan's reproduction Wright Flyer will be on permanent display at the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport.

In the words of an admiring EAA'er Jim Tausworthe, "Ghan is a ‘Hall of Famer’. He's a real ‘Hall of Famer’. He never gave up."

FMI: www.fly-low.com