• Ford Motor Company has helped ensure the successful reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer by analyzing historic materials, lending engineering advice and specialized equipment and testing an authentic reproduction of the engine the Wright brothers used to make their first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.
• The tests involved the same processes and equipment Ford Motor Company uses every day to improve the quality and performance of its vehicles.
• Ford Motor Company's history is inseparably linked to the history of flight.

DEARBORN, Mich. - Take one unstable historic aircraft, add two modern-day pilots and toss in a day of unpredictable coastal weather and what do you get? Plenty of hope and promise.

For a 21st century team preparing to fly an authentic reproduction of the Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer exactly 100 years to the minute from their historic first flight over the dunes near Kitty Hawk, N.C., it also takes lots of testing, practice and faith.

Ford Motor Company has been there along the way, analyzing materials from a 1903 Wright engine and original 1903 Wright Flyer, lending engineering advice and specialized equipment as well as testing an authentic reproduction of the engine the Wrights used on Dec. 17, 1903 - all to ensure the successful reproduction and flight of the historic airplane.

EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk Presented by Ford Motor Company commissioned The Wright Experience of Warrenton, Va., to build an authentic reproduction of the Wrights' 1903 Flyer to re-enact the brothers' first powered, controlled flight on Dec. 17, 2003 - 100 years from the historic moment.

The 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction serves as the centerpiece of EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk presented by Ford Motor Company. A team of craftsmen and volunteers has been researching every aspect of the 1903 airplane for the past decade and more. With less than three months remaining before the re-enactment of the Wright brothers' historic first flight, preparations have intensified.

Ford Motor Company testing and support
Extensive testing of materials, including an authentic reproduction of the engine, at Ford Motor Company facilities has helped ensure the success and integrity of the reproduction airplane. At the same time, it has revealed fascinating details about the Wrights' historic achievement.

A team of a dozen Ford Motor Company engineers, technicians and supervisors worked with the engine builders to test and analyze their authentic reproduction of the Wrights' 1903 engine. Tests were performed at Ford's sophisticated Dynamometer Laboratory in Dearborn - the first time anyone saw the historic engine in full operation.

"Thanks to the help of the team at Ford Motor Company, we're confident this engine will power the reproduction flyer off the ground on the 100th anniversary," said Steve Hay, who hand-built the engine with his brother, Jim Hay. "We're getting data even the Wright brothers never had!"

Ford Motor Company also tested and analyzed materials from the Wrights' 1903 test engine and original Flyer to determine their physical and chemical characteristics.

In addition, Ford IT, in collaboration with its supplier partners Documentum, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard, developed a searchable, computerized database that enables The Wright Experience to retrieve historical documents as it creates the 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction and other Wright aircraft.

"These landmark tests further strengthen the historic connection between Ford Motor Company and the Wright brothers," said Jan Valentic, Ford Motor Company vice president, Global Marketing. "And they involved the same processes and equipment Ford Motor Company uses every day to improve the quality and performance of its vehicles."

As one of the premier innovators of his generation, Henry Ford helped put the nation on wings through his efforts to develop aircraft to serve the public, then build public confidence in their safety, reliability and necessity. Ford laid the foundation for the world's modern system of commercial aviation, including the world's first modern airport and concrete runway and popularization of all-metal aircraft with the Ford Tri-Motor. For his pioneering efforts, Ford was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1984 and recognized as an aviation pioneer by the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission in December 2002. A full timeline of Henry Ford's contributions to aviation and photographs are available at Ford's media site, http://media.ford.com.

Training the "Pilots of the Century"
Training continues for the pilots who will attempt to re-create history. Terry Queijo and Kevin Kochersberger along with their backup crew are following in the footsteps of the Wrights by training in a 1902 Wright glider reproduction. The training is taking place along a grass landing strip in Warrenton, Va., that sits alongside The Wright Experience.

The training is critical because the 21st century pilots need to unlearn everything they have been taught about flying modern aircraft to control the awkward and primitive 1903 Wright flyer.
As part the Countdown to Kitty Hawk celebration on Dec. 17 near the dunes of Kitty Hawk, one of the pilots will lie down across the lower wing and attempt a feat that hasn't happened in 100 years. Training for this historic event is being led by legendary aviation pioneer Scott Crossfield, the first man to fly at Mach 2 and Mach 3.

"This is the most critical stage of the training that we have been involved with over the past year," Crossfield said. "Our pilots are working with an unpowered glider that has been modified so it has all the characteristics of the powered 1903 flyer. It's essential that the pilots fully comprehend just how unstable this aircraft will be before we undertake powered flights."

Just as the Wrights did in 1903, Queijo and Kochersberger will flip a coin to determine who will fly first on the 100th anniversary.

Wind tunnel testing
In February 2003, wind tunnel testing of the Ford Motor Company-sponsored 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction in the Langley Full Scale Tunnel - built in 1930 with input from Orville Wright - confirmed the plane can fly.

"For the first time since Dec. 17, 1903, a flying machine built exactly like the original was able to generate sufficient thrust to overcome drag and sufficient lift to overcome its weight," said Professor Robert Ash, Wright test program manager for Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., which operates the wind tunnel for NASA in Hampton, Va.

Although it is widely known the Wrights' plane was unstable, what was not fully appreciated until the wind tunnel tests were completed was that if the 1903 Flyer had been made positively stable, it would have not been controllable with the control surfaces as they were built in 1903.

Perhaps the most intriguing discovery was that the Wright Flyer was unstable in all three axes. None of the Wright Flyer controls - canard, wing warping and aft rudder - produced sufficient forces to control a stable flying machine. The Wright brothers actually exploited the airplane's instability in pitch, roll and yaw, thus enabling their marginal control elements to maintain their flying machine. Though highly nonlinear, the 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction is therefore capable of powered and controlled flight.

Ford Motor Company's Ford Racing division is a large supporter of the Langley wind tunnel, spending hundreds of hours testing the aerodynamics of many of its NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch cars along with Craftsman Truck vehicles.

"If Ford Racing hadn't been testing so many of their vehicles in the Langley Full Scale Tunnel, Old Dominion University would never have been able donate the wind tunnel testing time," Ash said.

About EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk Presented by Ford Motor Company
EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk is a centennial celebration of the Wright brothers' first powered flight - an innovation that forever changed our world. Led by EAA, presented by Ford Motor Company and supported by Microsoft Flight Simulator, Eclipse Aviation and Northrop Grumman Corp., this yearlong series of inspirational events honors the innovation and determination it takes to make world-changing dreams a reality.

Countdown to Kitty Hawk features an interactive touring pavilion and the world's most-accurate 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction built by The Wright Experience. The countdown will culminate with the re-enactment of the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 2003 - exactly 100 years later. For more information, go to www.countdowntokittyhawk.org.