IN THE SPRING OF 1909. vintners and city officials in the city of Reims in the Champagne region of France began planning an event for August of that year that would be called Le Grande Semaine D Aviation de la Champagne (The Champagne Region's Great Aviation Week). Just the year before, Wilbur Wright had dazzled the French aeronautical community and fueled a growing enthusiasm for the airplane. At Reims, 400,000 people gathered, and the event electrified its audience. Reims marked the introduction of the airplane to the world. It was the first time many people, especially those in government and the military, would see more than one airplane in the air at a time. A new gallery at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum will invite visitors to imagine that era when airplanes first took to the sky and to learn about all the exciting work that followed. The Early Flight gallery will explore how the idea of flight progressed from an ancient dream to reality and how, in just over a decade, the airplane developed into a technology that would shape the future.
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