Exhibition: 'The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age'

Of all the many celebrations we've either seen or come to expect in light of the 100th Anniversary of Manned Flight, few would seem to be as exhaustively prepared as that accomplished by the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has formally added their weight to the celebration of 100 years of powered flight with the opening of "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age" last Saturday, Oct. 11. The exhibition, featuring 170 artifacts, provides an engrossing look at the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright, their technical achievements and the cultural impact of their breakthrough in the decade that followed.

The centerpiece of the new exhibition is the original 1903 Wright Flyer (none of this replica stuff for the Smithsonian... RHIP), displayed at eye level for the first time since it was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1948. Visitors have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study up close the intricate workings of the world's first airplane, which flew only four times-all within a few hours at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 1903.

The exhibition, which will run for at least two years, reveals how two seemingly ordinary people accomplished a feat that had eluded others for so long. Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville (1871-1948) Wright's creative process and inventive method have been presented in comprehensive terms that refute the notion the brothers were simply two bicycle makers who got lucky. Interactive mechanical models in the gallery offer visitors unique hands-on examples of the brothers' design concepts.

"The airplane has now defined our world for 100 years," says National Air and Space Museum Director Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey. "This exhibition is a tribute to the unyielding curiosity that made the technical triumph possible. With this gallery, the Wrights come to life to provide special inspiration for the next century of innovation."

Among the artifacts featured in the gallery:

• School report cards attesting to the brothers' dedication to learning
• One of only five Wright-built bicycles still in existence
• Wilbur Wright's 1899 letter to the Smithsonian requesting publications on aviation
• A Wright wind tunnel test instrument used in unlocking the secrets of aerodynamics
• The stopwatch used to time the first powered flights
• Orville Wright's mandolin
• Wood and fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer carried to the moon in 1969 by Apollo 11
• Full-size reproductions of a Wright experimental kite and two experimental gliders are also displayed.

An array of popular culture artifacts and artwork helps illustrate how powered flight was received in the first years after Kitty Hawk. The exhibition explores the unlimited possibilities aviation represented for public spectacle, adventure, commerce, warfare and creative expression. Also examined are the Wright brothers' sudden massive fame and their direct influence on fledgling inventors and aviators. Some artifacts have been loaned for the exhibition by individuals and organizations in the United States and Europe, complementing the museum's renowned collection of early flight materials.

The gallery's design, from lighting fixtures to display cases, conveys a feeling of the Wrights' era. The barrier that surrounds the 1903 Wright Flyer is inspired by iron fencing that was at the Wright home in Dayton. Wright-related sites including their home and bicycle shop were the inspirations for the gallery's life-size, three-dimensional facades. These representations will be used on occasion by actors performing educational vignettes commissioned for the exhibition through the theater department of George Washington University. Other exhibition features produced by the museum's Education Unit include live video "field trips" to the gallery by students in other parts of the United States; a teaching poster; online lesson plans; special "Family Day" programs; and staffed "Discovery Stations," which provide hands-on explorations of Wright methods and designs.

A touch-screen computer interactive, "Riding the Winds," gives visitors a simulated look at the 1903 Wright Flyer in flight, along with an understanding of flight control and testing. Another computer station, "Inside the Invention," allows visitors to study the Flyer through a virtual model of the airplane and detailed photographs including those of the aircraft disassembled during its 1984-1985 restoration. A Wright-era listening display, "There's Music in the Air," will offer newly made recordings of early aviation-themed songs from the museum's vast sheet music collection.

A companion book to "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age" has been published in collaboration with National Geographic.

The National Air and Space Museum also marks the centennial of powered flight with the Dec. 15 opening of its companion facility adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The much-anticipated Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center will ultimately house the 80 percent of the national collection not currently displayed at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall in Washington or on loan. Artifacts will include the space shuttle Enterprise, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the original prototype of the 707 jetliner and the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay. The aviation hangar alone at the new center is 10 stories high and the length of three football fields.
The Air and Space Museum, comprised of the Udvar-Hazy (pronounced OOD-var HAHzee) Center and the building on the Mall, will be the largest air and space museum complex in the world. The flagship building, with just over 161,000 square feet of exhibition floor space, is the most popular museum in the world, attracting on average more than 9 million visitors each year. Attendance at the Udvar-Hazy Center is projected at some 3 million people a year.

The museum building on the Mall, located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W., is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (Closed Christmas Day.) Admission is free.

FMI: http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/