100 Ways to Celebrate 100 Years of Flight
An Air & Space/Smithsonian guide to a centennial’s worth of fun and flying.
Air shows, air races, museum exhibits and traveling shows, books, Web sites, films and television programs-even musical productions-all commemorate the Wright brothers' feat of a century ago. Throughout the year, events have been scheduled across the United States and in nearly every place in the world that flight has touched. Here's a list of performances to attend, places to visit, and products to buy to help you observe the anniversary of the first flight.
Thank you for visiting. We welcome your comments on how we can make the Air & Space Web site more useful. If you link to the following sites or visit the listed locations, please note that Air & Space is not responsible for the views that may be represented, or the accuracy, privacy policies, trademarks, copyright compliance or the legality of any material contained on these sites, which are the responsibility of each organization.
This list is not intended to be comprehensive, or imply any particular preference based on order of listing. It is simply a cross-section of ideas that we hope will inspire your own exploration.
Centennial-Theme Events
The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
www.centennialofflight.net
U.S. Air Force Centennial of Flight Events Office
www.centennialofflight.af.mil/index.shtml
International Council of Air Shows (ICAS)
www.airshows.org/
Century of Flight Links and Events
www.keypublishing.com
First Flight Society news and events
www.firstflight.org/
Aviation Open House and Dime-A-Pound Rides from Ninety-Nines International, Tucson, AZ, March 1
www.tucsonairport.org
Franklin Institute Flight Festival, Philadelphia, PA, March 28-30
www.fi.edu/wright/flight_festival/
Team America Rocketry Challenge, The Plains, VA, April 12
www.aia-aerospace.org/
World Flight 2003, at least 10 cities in North Carolina, May-June
www.worldflight2003.com/
World Flight 2003 includes:
Lumberton Municipal Airport, NC, May 14-18
www.celebrationofflightnc.com
100th Anniversary of Aviatin Safety Seminar, Hot Springs National Park, AR, June 12-15
www.AvHotSp2003.org
Return to Kitty Hawk Great Transcontinental Glider Race, June 17-July 2
www.ssa.org
Van Nuys Airport Aviation Expo: 100 Years of Flight, Van Nuys, CA, June 21-22
www.lawa.org click on Van Nuys
A Celebration of Flight cross-country ultralight trip, June 22-28
dulclub.tripod.com
Inventing Flight, Dayton, OH, July 3-20
www.inventingflight.com
July 4 -20 Celebration Central on Deeds Point
July 4 - 20 Time Flies - A Living History Experience at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park Sites
www.nps.gov/daav/
www.carillonpark.org
July 4-20 Orville & Wilbur: The Wright Brothers' Legacy, Dayton Art Institute
www.daytonartinstitute.org
July 4 - 6 Re-Max(r) Balloon Celebration and Race from Dayton to Kitty Hawk, United States Air Force Museum
www.wpafb.af.mil/museum
July 4 - 6 CITYFOLK Festival
https://cityfolkfestival.com/
July 11 - 13 International Blimp Meet, United States Air Force Museum
www.wpafb.af.mil/museum
July 11 - 13 Dayton Black Cultural Festival: Tuskegee Airmen
www.TuskegeeAirmen.org
www.daytonblackculturalfestival.org
July 14 - 17 AIAA/ICAS International Symposium
www.icas.org
July 17 - 20 Vectren Dayton Air Show presented by Kroger
www.usats.org
July 18 - 19 National Aviation Hall of Fame Ceremonies
www.nationalaviation.org
July 20 Closing Ceremonies at Celebration Central Vectren Dayton International Air Show, Dayton, OH, July 17-20
www.usats.org
Defence 2003 and Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford, Gloucester, England, July 19-20
www.airtattoo.com
The Incredible Age of Aviation, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA, August 7-10
www.flightlineairshows.com/Site.htm
Aviation Foundation of America National Air Tours, September 8-24
www.NationalAirTour.org
Dedication of Monument to a Century of Flight, Kitty Hawk Heritage Day, NC, September 27
www.icarusinternational.com/monument.htm
National Air and Space Museum, The Wright Brothers and The Invention of the Aerial Age, Washington, D.C.
www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal209/wrights.htm
Wright aircraft at the National Air & Space Museum:
1903 Wright Flyer I
www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal100/wright1903.html
1909 Wright Military Flyer
www.nasm.si.edu
Wings and Waves 2003: Embry-Riddle Celebrates the Centennial of Flight, Daytona Beach, FL, November 8-9
www.embryriddle.edu
Man Will Never Fly Society dinner, Manteo, NC, December 16
www.manwillneverfly.com
Opening of Milestones of Flight at Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, England, December 17
www.100yearsofflight.org.uk
Opening of the National Air and Space Museum Steven Udvar-Hazy Center, December 15
www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/ext/
First Flight Centennial Celebration, Kitty Hawk, NC, December 13-17
www.countdowntokittyhawk.com
www.outerbanks.org
Places to Visit
Aviation Trail, Dayton/Miami Valley, OH
aviationtrailinc.org/
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Dayton, OH
www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/wright/
Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, OH
www.carillonpark.org/
Charles Taylor Memorial, Wright State University, OH
www.amccommission.com/
National Aviation Hall of Fame, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
www.nationalaviation.org/
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/
Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, NC
www.nps.gov/wrbr
Dayton and Montgomery County Public Libraries, OH, Wright collection
home.dayton.lib.oh.us
International Women's Air & Space Museum, Burke Lakefront Airport, OH
www.iwasm.org/
Private homes and apartments to rent near Kitty Hawk, NC
www.sunrealtync.com/2003-centennial.htm
Dare County Regional Airport, NC (MQI)
www.fly2mqi.com/
Aircraft fly-in/parking reservations at MQI
www.fly2mqi.com/apr.htm
Live and Virtual Exhibits
AIAA replica Flyer on tour
www.wrightflyer.org
Wright aircraft at the National Air & Space Museum:
1903 Wright Flyer I
www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal100/wright1903.html
1909 Wright Military Flyer
www.nasm.si.edu
Wright 1900 glider replica at Orono Middle School, Maine
wright.grc.nasa.gov/replica/replica.html
Steco Aerohydroplane of 1911, American Wings Air Museum, Blaine MN
www.aerofiles.com/stecox.jpg
Centennial Museum Online and Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company
www.Wright-Brothers.org
www.first-to-fly.com
Early aviation and aircraft plans via The Early Birds
earlybirds.org/index.html
earlybirds.org/menu.html
Owl's Head Transportation Museum, Maine
www.ohtm.org/
Fantasy of Flight Museum Wright Flyer replica, Polk City, FL
www.fantasyofflight.com
Gustave Albin Whitehead (1874 - 1927) and his museum
www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/whitehead.html
www.captainscoveseaport.com/attractions.htm
www.weisskopf.de/research.htm
Augustus Moore Herring resources
wings.avkids.com/Book/Wright/history1_1902t28.html
www.flyingmachines.org/chan.html
Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul, IL
www.AeroMuseum.org
Otto Lilienthal Museum (Germany) and resources
invention.psychology.msstate.edu/(English)
Ferdinand Ferber and other Frenchmen
www.flight100.org/history/fra.html
Gabriel Voisin
www.centennialofflight.gov
www.airracinghistory
Louis Bleriot
bleriot.com/
James Henry Gatling Turkey Buzzard Aeroplane, Murfreesboro, NC
www.murfreesboronc.com
Simulations of the Wright Flyer
Flyer simulation along with several pre-1910 aircraft simulations
firstflight.open.ac.uk/
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Wright Flyer
www.flight100.org/learn/cl_wright.html
Animation of Wright Flyer by Paul Beardsley
windrfters.com/planespage.htm
Downloadable computer models from Laminar Research to create Wright Flyer simulations
www.vigilanceaero.com/airplanes.html
An X-Plane 6.xx model of the 1903 Flyer by Mark Fisher
preferredimage.dynodns.net/mfisher/index.htm
Virtual Model of 1903 Wright Flyer for use in creating simulations
www.ocnus.com/models/Vehicles/
Life-size Wright Model B simulator by Bihrle Applied Research
www.bihrle.com/services_sds_success5.html
Franklin Institute Science Museum Online Quicktime Wright animations
invention.psychology.msstate.edu
University of Liverpool Wright simulation study
pcwww.liv.ac.uk/eweb/fst/WrightBrothers.htm
Cislunar Aerospace computational fluid dynamics model of the Wright Flyer
wings.avkids.com/Tours/wright.html
"Forces of flight" simulation for Wright and early aircraft via Franklin Institute Online
www.fi.edu/flights/own2/index.html
NASA Glenn Research Center Wright 1903 Flyer and pre-1910 aircraft
www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/airplane/air1903.html
wright.grc.nasa.gov/sim.htm
Orville Wright impersonator Jim Spence
www.orvillewright.com
Products
U.S. Mint First Flight commemorative coin
www.usmint.gov
OBX bumper sticker and Kitty Hawk gifts
www.kittyhawk.com/gifts/
Paper Model of the Wright Flyer, catapult, and the Kitty Hawk workshop
www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/private/wright-flyer/flyer.htm
Bulova Wright Flyer miniature clock
www.someonespecial.com/bulova31.html
Ready-made Wright Flyer kites
www.intothewind.com
www.intothewind.com
Buildable Not Quite Wright kite
www.first-to-fly.com
Wright Flyer postcard, Bureau of Engraving and Printing
www.bep.treas.gov/store/section.cfm/71/92/395
First Flight Centennial bear cub named Monument or Flyer
www.lerc-inc.com/
www.firstflightcentennial.org/
First Flight Centennial Ultraweave coverlet
www.millstreetdesign.com/whats_new/whats_new.html.
www.firstflightcentennial.org/
Public Broadcasting System 1996 video, "The Wright Stuff "
main.wgbh.org/wgbh/shop/wg046.html
Wright Flyer replicas from 1/12 through one-third scale
www.aviationspecialty.com
www.arizonamodels.com/wrightflyer.htm
Radio control Wright Flyers and glider
www.first-to-fly.com
www.darehobby.com/airplane-rubber-01.htm#1903wrightflyer
www.darehobby.com/airplane-glider-01.htm#wrightglider
www.microrc.com/packs280.htm#wright
Aviation Rag sound file and digital sheet music
www.Wright-Brothers.org
Aviation Rag sheet music from University of Colorado Digital Sheet Music Collection
www-libraries.colorado.edu
Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk: This Is America, Charlie Brown video
www.eparks.com/eparks/park_entrance.asp?park=14W
Historical Aircraft Connect-theDots
www.mnaero.com/aved click on Publications
Educational and Photographic Resources
Wright State University special collections
www.libraries.wright.edu/special/wright_brothers/
American Memory/Library of Congress Wright collection
www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/236_wright.html
To Fly Is Everything
invention.psychology.msstate.edu/air_main.shtml
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Evolution of Flight Campaign
www.flight100.org
Royal Aeronautical Society 100 Years of Flight project
www.100yearsofflight.org.uk
NASA Quest
quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/
Aviation Week's Next Century of Flight
www.AviationNow.com/NextCentury
Ken Hyde and the Wright Experience
www.wrightexperience.com
NASA's Re-Living the Wright Way
www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/
U.S. Air Force History & Museums Support Office
www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil
Orville Wright's 1908 article for Century Magazine,
"How We Made the First Flight."
www.aero-web.org/history/wright/wright.htm
Wright Theme Page of Canada's Gander Aviation Academy
www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/wright.htm
NASA's Wright Flyer Online Page
quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright
Women In Aviation Resource Center
www.women-in-aviation.com
Women in Aviation, International
www.wiai.org/
The Ninety-Nines Women in Aviation History page
www.ninety-nines.org/bios.html
Bill Gates writes about the Wrights
www.pathfinder.com
History of Aviation on Long Island
http://www.lihistory.com/specpio/gpioavia.htm
Movies and photos of early flight
invention.psychology.msstate.edu
Significant Milestones, Pilots and Chronologies
Aviation 100 Pioneers of Aviation
http://www.aviation100.com
NASM Milestones of Flight gallery
http://www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal100/gal100.html
Women in Aviation: Milestones and Achievements 1859-1988
www.women-in-aviation.com
History of flight in 18 countries, as compiled by AIAA
www.flight100.org/history_intro.html
NASA space flight history
www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/
First 100 human space flights
www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/factoids/hundred.htm
Milestones and great pilots of airmail history
www.airmailpioneers.org/history/milestone.html
Milestones as documented by PBS
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/timeline/
Milestones in space exploration from Marshall Space Flight Center
history.msfc.nasa.gov/milestones/
The AIAA history of flight, as told in select images.
Categories include: Boeing Company, GE Aircraft Engines, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Northrop/Grumman, People, Raytheon, Rockets, Rockwell Collins, and Snecma.
gallery.flight100.org/
The history of Snecma aerospace engines since 1890
www.snecma.com/en/group/history/index.php
Online video gallery of select milestones in flight
www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/gallery3.htm
History of flight in images
www.flight-history.com/gal/
Russian aeronautical milestones since 1754
aeroweb.lucia.it/~agretch/RAFAQ/Milestones.html
Chronology of Russian space technologies since 1901
www.russianspaceweb.com/chronology.html
Brief history and breakthroughs in rotorcraft
rwebs.net/avhistory/notsofam/rotorcra.htm
A more scholarly look at milestones in rotorcraft
www.enae.umd.edu/AGRC/Aero/history.html
PBS programming on the history of the balloon
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/balloon/science/history.html
History of the windtunnel, beginning with whirling arm machines of the 1700s
www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/WindTunnel/history.html
Naval Aviation since World War One
www.history.navy.mil/branches/ww1av.htm
Military aircraft designs that failed
rwebs.net/avhistory/notsofam/failures.htm
History/milestones of airfoil development
www.desktopaero.com
Significant air crashes
web.mit.edu
The ten deadliest air crashes
www.news-record.com/ae/firstflight/10wright22.htm
One Century of Aviation with Air France, and other titles
www.aeroplanebooks.com/airline_pg1.htm
One selection of the 50 greatest aircraft
www.whom.co.uk/squelch/bb_aviate.htm
Air records as reported by CNN
fyi.cnn.com/2002/US/07/01/air.records/
Curtiss-Wright story of first airplane engines and propellers
www.curtisswright.com/history/1901-1920.asp
Milestones in Alaskan flight
www.75th.com/
Black pioneers in aviation, and photo gallery
www.babpa.com/history.html
International Black Aerospace Council listing of significant individuals
www.blackaerospace.com/pages/aboutus.asp
NASM collection of videos on black aviators
www.si.edu/archives/ihd/videocatalog/9545.htm
One company's video titles on the greatest pilots,
www.militaryhistoryvideo.com
Books on Pioneer Aviators including Otto Lilienthal, Glenn Curtiss, Kingsford Smith, Howard Hughes, Lindbergh, Cayley, Ernest Gann and the Wright Brothers
www.dropbears.com
The pioneers of aviation history as seen by Hargrave,
from inventors to manufacturers to pilots
www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pioneers.html
Space milestones in song
www.space.com
Aviation jokes searchable by keyword
www.ahajokes.com/aviation_jokes.html
The British take on aviation humo[u]r
www.aviationhumour.co.uk/