After its historic flight in 1903, the Flyer was shipped to various museums before it came to rest in the Smithsonian Institution. [Credit: Gary Todd/Wikimedia Commons]
Key Takeaways:
The 1903 Wright Flyer displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is confirmed to be the authentic aircraft, despite common skepticism.
Frequent questions about its authenticity arise due to numerous replicas and the aircraft's remarkably well-preserved appearance.
While the current fabric is not original to 1903 (having been replaced by Orville Wright in 1928 and again during museum conservation in the 1980s), meticulous efforts were made to restore it accurately, including sourcing fabric from the original manufacturer.
“Is it the real one?” That is the most frequently asked question when people see the 1903 Wright Flyer on display in the Wright brothers gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
According to Dorothy Cochrane, the museum’s curator of the aeronautics department, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
