2-839-744 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Full-size reproduction of the Wright brothers' 1900 glider, built in 2003. Fabric-covered wooden-frame biplane, with no vertical tail. Only a horizontal forward elevator. On their path to the first successful powered airplane, the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright brothers built three full-size gliders to test their design ideas regarding control, aerodynamics, and structures. The Wrights primarily flew the 1900 glider as a kite, with no pilot aboard, to test its performance, but they did make a few free glides with Wilbur Wright as pilot, totaling two minutes in the air.None of the three experimental Wright gliders exist. The Wrights did not preserve them because they saw them merely as research tools, and they were rather beat up from testing. This reproduction was built during the 2003 Wright centennial year.