EAA Commissions The "Wright" Organization For The Job
Since it was first organized in late 1998, "The Wright Experience" has focused its efforts on rediscovering the secrets of the Wright Brothers’ pioneering work in aviation. Now, with the assignment of building an authentic flying Wright Flyer, the Warrenton, Va., organization assumes a central role in EAA’s "Countdown to Kitty Hawk™" celebration.
As was announced on September 12, 2000, at a special event held at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., EAA commissioned The Wright Experience to reconstruct the 1903 Wright Flyer Reproduction. The crowning event will take place on Dec. 17, 2003, at 10:35 a.m. in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, when the meticulously reconstructed Flyer attempts to repeat Orville Wright’s remarkable first flight—100 years later.
While neither brother had any formal training, the Wrights worked methodically and creatively designing and building a myriad of kites, gliders, powered flyers, wind tunnels and other test devices from 1900 to 1912. Unfortunately, many of their discoveries were lost or destroyed in their unending effort to protect their secrets from competitors.
"Our goal is to re-create what they did by reverse-engineering so we can fully understand the secrets of the Wright Brothers," explained Ken Hyde, executive director of The Wright Experience. "They left a great paper trail with writings and letters." Orville spent his whole life defending the fact that he and his brother were the first to invent the airplane, Hyde noted, because so many others were infringing on their patent.
"We know how to put the man on the moon, but we have not been successful in flying a true Wright airplane," Hyde continued. "The last time a Wright airplane flew was in 1934." That Model B is now at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Now, the task is clearly before them: Construct an airworthy reproduction to be ready to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur’s inaugural powered flight on December 17, 2003.
"Today we see the magnificent evolution of the Wrights’ original efforts," Hyde said. "Our quest is to discover how the first steps were made — steps that are lost in history. We are confident that we will retrace those steps and finish the first century of flight as it began, by flying over the sands of Kitty Hawk."
Ken Hyde
Wright Experience co-founder Ken Hyde joined American Airlines in 1965 and
retired in September 1998, with 33 years of service flying DC-6s, DC-7s,
L-188s and Boeing 727s. He will be honored as a 2000 inductee to the
Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame during its annual ceremony this fall.
The same year he went to work for American Airlines, he founded Virginia
Aviation, an antique aircraft restoration company. His award-winning
restorations include a 1918 Curtiss Jenny which took EAA Grand Champion
honors in 1987 and a Clipped-Wing Monocoupe “Little Butch,” which took
EAA Grand Champion honors in 1975. His list of restored projects for
museums include aircraft for the National Air and Space Museum’s Paul
Garber facility in Silver Hill, Maryland, the Cradle of Aviation Museum,
EAA AirVenture Museum, San Diego Aerospace Museum, U.S. Army Museum at Ft.
Rucker, Ala., U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Sill, Virginia Aviation
Museum in Richmond, Va. and the College Park Museum.
Born April 26, 1939, the Nokesville, Virginia native earned both his pilot and mechanic licenses while still a high school student. Following high school, he went to work as a mechanic for Capital Airlines. In 1961, he joined the team at Bendix Corporation as a co-pilot/mechanic for the operation of instrumented aircraft for calibrating Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo worldwide tracking stations prior to joining American Airlines in 1965.
He and his wife, Beverly, reside in Warrenton, Virginia.
