Finding Wright Replicas Around the Country

FLYING spent the better part of a month reaching out to aviation museums across the country, following up on tips from our readers about replicas that they’ve worked on and where they ended up. These are a few places to see one of the many Flyer re-creations out there:

You could say the Wright Flyer was the very first experimental aircraft, and as such it makes sense that the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has a replica built by members of the EAA and Blackhawk Technical Institute in Janesville, Wisconsin. The project took approximately 10 years to complete. The replica was installed in the museum on December 17, 1978, the 75th anniversary of the Wrights’ famous flight.

The Wings of the North Air Museum in Eden Prairie has a full-scale replica of the Wright Flyer built on commission by Flight Expo Inc., a volunteer nonprofit group in Princeton, Minnesota. The Wright Flyer is on loan to Wings of the North. The first aircraft shares space with another famous replica, one of Minnesota native Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, a highly modified Ryan M-2 monoplane.

You will find a replica of the Flyer on the east balcony of the Transportation Gallery at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The replica was built by the Glen Elly, Illinois-based Wright Redux Association to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wrights’ first successful powered flight. However, since the winters in Chicago tend to be snow-laden, the decision was made to attempt the flight in September 2003.

The Association told the Chicago Sun-Times the plan was to "attempt to fly it multiple times in the morning for a period of two hours or until they broke something." The replica, named The Spirit of Glen Ellyn, never made it into the air because of a lack of wind.

The Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot boasts a replica Wright Flyer that was built on site like a ship in a bottle.

"Construction began in 2001, and it was completed in 2003 in time for the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight,” said museum director Jenna Grindberg. “There were quite a few people involved in the building of this replica, including several EAA chapters. Gordon Valgren was the project coordinator, [with help from] Warren Pietsch, Paul Sonnenberg, Don Larson, Jerald Burtman, Jesse McMurty, Mike Nass, Phil Hall, Gary Johnson, Keith Johnson, Al Botz, Dr. Bob Roswick, Judy Valgren, Jim Bergo and Ray Buel."

Several businesses also donated time and supplies to support the project. 

"The Diamond Chain Company made the chains for many of the replicas that were being built, and that is where we got ours,” Grindberg said. “The wires were provided by American Welding. North Dakota State University built the fittings and brackets. Dakota Drug donated trucking by hauling parts back and forth between Minot and Fargo, and Roger Ward North American provided the moving van to take sections of the Flyer out to Minot AFB for an exhibit at Northern Neighbors Day Air Show in 2003."

The replica of the Flyer that is on display at March Field Air Museum was built between 1979 and 1993 using plans from the original aircraft published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1950. The craftsmen were members of the Los Angeles Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The replica was built for wind tunnel tests.

The replica traveled around the country as part of the buildup to the Wright brothers’ centennial in 2003 and was eventually installed in the museum in 2018.

The Florida Air Museum has a 1903 Flyer replica hanging from the ceiling in the main building. The replica is a centerpiece in this well-appointed, eclectic collection. Stand beneath it and turn slowly in a circle and you can see the history of aviation from first flight to jets.