wright brothers/ kites with people attached

I mentioned earlier that I'm working on a project for my old employer (from when I got out of graduate school). I assume that I don't have a huge readership and really this blog just functions as a diary of sorts for me, so I figure it's safe to disclose a few more details. 

I am currently in mid stream working on creating some high touch scale models of air planes that will be housed with some new exhibits at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. They are comprised of CNC machined aluminum components and hand fabricated details that bring all the components together. This past week I was working on two Wright Brothers gliders and their first plane. I guess I really hadn't given these planes much thought over the years as I have always been interested in the WWII warplanes primarily. As I have been working on these, I've been researching the original information on theses gliders and planes. The story behind the Wright Brothers and their mechanic Charlie Taylor is fascinating. The shots of the gliders from above are really captivating to me. 

Jill and I are planning a trip to Kitty Hawk too since we are somewhat close and we have some artist friends that live in the area. One of the friends even mentioned that his great aunt helped the Wright Brothers sew the fabric on the wings of one of their planes. I guess you can take a flight in a replica glider year round if you visit Kitty Hawk I really would love to even build a replica like this sometime. Maybe I could get a group of builders together to do this. I have a friend who lives close to Kitty Hawk, that is a woodworker and has a woodshop. He builds canoes and he's already mentioned that he would be up for this. How cool would that be? 

Anyway, I think the idea of flight before it got more complicated is very intriguing. There is something elemental about it. Kind of like a basic no frills rudimentary motorcycle. Just strap into it and let the mechanical prosthetic take over. Eric dabbled with the sensation of flight during his undergraduate thesis. I think this is worth coming back to especially after seeing these gliders and learning a bit more about them. They are like giant kites with people attached. Think about that for a second....