Show of the Wright stuff

By FLTLT Mal Rankine

FLTLT Dougal Dow, a test pilot with ARDU, talks with John Delaney, who has built a replica of the aircraft that made the first powered flight – the Wright Flyer. The machine’s box structure contrasts with the sleek lines of a Hornet.

Photo by CPL Rob Hack

RECENT visitors to the ARDU hangar at RAAF Base Edinburgh were surprised at the Air Force’s latest “acquisition”.

Aerospace Operational Support Group (AOSG) took delivery – but only temporarily – of a 1903 Wright Flyer, a full-scale replica of the flying machine test flown on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Aviation enthusiast John Delaney and his wife Christine built the aircraft.

The visit of their flying machine to Edinburgh provided the opportunity to capture some photographs that illustrate where powered aviation began and how it has developed in the past 100 years.

Mr Delaney’s Wright Flyer took a little over one year to create and had its first successful flight at Virginia, South Australia on February 9.

This flight lasted eight seconds, covered a distance of 278 feet and rose to the dizzy heights of 8 feet. The Wrights’ first flight was 12 seconds and flew 120 feet.

Mr Delaney is relocating the Wright Flyer to the Parafield Airport museum, South Australia where it will remain on public display.

For more details visit www.geocities.com/wbrothers1903

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