Spirit of Glen Ellyn, 1903 Wright Flyer Replica, Goes 136 Feet (or 144)

The Wright Redux Association's 1903 Wright Flyer replica, Spirit of Glen Ellyn, went airborne Sunday at Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook (IL), flying 136 feet from the end of the launch rail.

At 4:45 PM, pilot Ken Kirincic (right) throttled the plane's engine and launched himself and Wright Redux into history, becoming the first 1903 Wright Flyer replica to achieve free, powered flight.

"The conditions were perfect," said Kirincic, who hails from the Illinois city of Glen Ellyn. "I knew when we released the machine into the 15 mph southerly wind and felt it gain a lot of speed going down the launch rail that we had a good chance to get the Spirit of Glen Ellyn off the ground. The plane took to the air beautifully and I managed to land it without any damage."

The flight was the culmination of a four-year effort to fund, build and fly an exact replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer. Working primarily from information in the Wright Brothers' journals, original Wright photographs, and information obtained from the National Air and Space Museum, the Wright Redux Association succeeded where many have failed.

"It's hard to describe what yesterday's flight means to this group," said Co-President, Mark Miller. "All the work and all the planning came down to one moment. It just came together unbelievably well. I can't say enough about this group of people. Sunday's result just goes to show you what determination, persistence, and today, a little bit of luck can lead to. I am mighty proud to be a part of this effort and continue to be awed by what Orville and Wilbur Wright accomplished 100 years ago."

Ted Craft, Wright Redux Co-President, pointed out, "[This] was the culmination of a lot of difficult -- but it appears correct -- decisions made by this group. So much of what we did had no plan. Chasing the solutions to the multitude of problems we faced was at times hard. There were moments when I wondered how the Wright Brothers accomplished what they did. But after watching our plane fly, I am extremely pleased with everything we decided to build into our plane. The wing solution; the propeller solution; the gearing solution... all proved to be correct, and the Spirit of Glen Ellyn performed remarkably well."

Flew better on its own than in tow...

"We damaged the plane on Saturday and again on Sunday during our tow tests and overcame both of these to go on and fly the 'Spirit of Glen Ellyn' on Sunday afternoon," said Mike Perry, Secretary/Treasurer of Wright Redux. "This Wright Redux team never gives up. We repaired the machine after the last crackup and what you saw Sunday afternoon was the result of pure determination. I believe the spirit of Wright Redux is similar to the attitude the Wrights demonstrated 100 years ago."

"The Wright Redux team is to be commended for this flight," said Ken Packer, PhD, PE, Chief Engineer of Packer Engineering. "Our team has been in love with this project since we first got involved. We are happy to contribute our expertise to this endeavor. It is exciting to participate in recreating the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers. The next milestone is to fly again, using the replica engine that our team is building for the Flyer."

Packer Engineering was instrumental in the success of this accomplishment. Their aeronautical engineering expertise was critical to achieving FAA certification of the "Spirit of Glen Ellyn" as an Experimental Exhibition aircraft, the testing regimens and to the success of the first flight attempt. Packer also machined and built the engine, from donated sand castings and forgings (above).

As happens so often on historic flights, the pilot choice was somewhat by chance.

Mike Perry told ANN, "Mike Gillian was originally slated to have been the pilot [on the first flight]." They weren't really planning to fly on Sunday. Stuff happened. Mike: "At the beginning of the day, we snapped part of the skid, while tow-testing. We had to glue it back together. While the glue was drying, we had a meeting, and a debate. We decided that, 'if we're going to keep breaking this thing while we're towing, we might as well break it while flying it.'" Gillian (immediately below, after original tow tests) wasn't available; Kirincic was.

First time's the charm.

Mr. Perry told us, "We didn't use any auxiliary power -- the Wrights didn't use the catapult until 1904, when they went back to Huffman Prairie (because of not enough headwinds)... We had three attempts -- the first was the best; the second two -- we just got up about six inches -- it just never really got off. Without the wind, we tried two more times, and we couldn't do it.

"The first flight was 136' 3" from the end of the rail. That's about 144 feet total, since it was flying before it got to the end of the rail," Mike told us.

Busted, a little.

After the first flight, they tried twice more -- and succeeded, in a manner of speaking; but without the winds, the Wright Flyer didn't live up to its name. "On the third flight, the wire that crosses the landing skids got caught up in the takeoff dolly -- the dolly (bottom photo) did kind of a 'cart-flip,' and it broke [a little part] at the rear of the airplane. If we had gained more altitude, it wouldn't have happened. We learned a lot yesterday," the group's treasurer said.

How fast did she go?

We won't know how fast it went, until some more analyses are made. Mike was frank: "Because we weren't really ready, we didn't have a radar gun on it. We may look at the film; and there's a stopwatch -- we know how far it went, so we'll be able to figure it out."

Fly again?

The Spirit of Glen Ellyn will fly on the front lawn of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry on September 20-21, 2003 as the highlight of the City of Chicago's observance of the centennial of the Wrights' first flight in 1903. Following those flights, the plane will be donated to the MSI where it will be displayed as part of the museum's permanent aviation collection.

What about another flight, before the lawn of the Museum? Mike told ANN that, "We haven't discussed that yet within our group. There's a lot of 'risk-averse' attitude in the group, understandably. Now that we've done it, we are going to consider flying, more."

Flew pretty well...

Mike continued, "Our pilot loved it -- he wanted to keep going, but the winds just died. Ken did an awesome job. He could have gone further -- he was straight and level, 12 to 24 inches off the ground. We didn't see any of the porpoising that people say this plane should have." Perhaps that was because, as Mike told us, "Ken was very precise and minute, with his inputs."

Pilot training in Ohio

Mr. Perry wanted to thank the glider people for some fortuitous flight training. "We have to give some credit to Nick Engler and his group in Dayton. He let us fly his 1900, 1901, and 1902 [Wright] gliders. Ken and Mike both got to fly those -- the experience was extremely beneficial and positive for them." The flight training took place on a very cold day, several weeks ago, at Warren Dunes, in Indiana. The gliders, Mike told us, "...were launched by people, holding onto ropes, and running down the dunes." just like a hundred years ago.

The Engler group, Mike said, were "incredibly generous, and really beneficial to our pilots. We just don't have the funding to build those gliders, to learn how to fly on."

How much?

Mike's the treasurer, so he's perhaps closer to the dollars, such as they were, that came together to build this machine. "The Flyer was built for about $60,000, actual cash," he said, but that wasn't the bulk of the expense. He added, "...plus donations of raw material and work. The engine alone was -- we had quotes of 6 months, and $100,000 to $200,000." Here's just one example of how donations of time and expertise made the project possible: "Packer Engineering built the engine with donated materials, forgings, sand castings -- and they're donating their time and machining."

Tom Norton (who has since moved to the DC area) and Mark Miller founded the Wright Redux Association in 1999. These two Glen Ellyn men set out to build and fly an exact replica of the Wright 1903 Flyer, a feat never before accomplished. Neither Norton nor Miller is a pilot, and neither had previously attempted to build a flying aircraft. As the project continued, several talented volunteers joined the Wright Redux team. Along with Ted Craft and Mike Perry, principal Wright Redux workers included: Chuck Clendenin, Turk Tilev, Jeff Knuckles, Bill and Jean Mumford, Erin Norton, and Rick Perry.

Primary financial and material sponsors of the Wright Redux Association are The Museum of Science and Industry, National Geographic, The Wheaton-Glen Ellyn Community Bank, The Glen Ellyn Jaycees, Packer Wings, NFP and the Horn Lumber Company of Chicago.

[Thanks to the Wright Redux folks and Chuck Clendinin for the photos --ed.]

FMI: www.wrightredux.org