MAKING IT REAL

摘要

As the big date began to loom, the question became ever more urgent: How should we, as the Farnborough Air SciencesrnTrust (FAST), celebrate the centenary of Cody's first flight? The answer: create a full-size replica of his aircraft, and somewhere to exhibit it. Easier said than done. Time might not have been on our side, but talent was. Based in Farnborough's FAST Museum, located in the historic former Royal Engineers Balloon School, mere yards from the point where Cody took off in October 1908, the Trust has amongst its membership a wealth of engineering expertise, and access, through itsrnown 100-year-old glass-slide collection, plans and documentation, to details of almost every aspect of Cody's early work.rnDespite a distinct lack of interest from the UK aerospace sector, we soon concluded that the building of an accurate, but non-flying, full-size replica of Cody's first historic aeroplane would be an achievable goal. We decided early on not to attempt a flying replica, as this would inevitably involve design compromises and the use of materials dictated by today's insurance and health-and-safety requirements. It would also take much longer to build, be far more expensive and probably downright dangerous to fly, even in still-air conditions, the original aircraft having lasted only 27sec.