Volunteer organization Wright B Flyer has sent its Wright Model B aircraft replica to Texas to take part in San Antonio’s tricentennial celebration. The full-scale replica, called the “Valentine Flyer,” will be displayed at the Fort Sam Houston parade field on May 5 and 6. The aircraft also visited San Antonio in 2010 for the 100th anniversary of the first solo military flight.
The Valentine Flyer was built in the 1970s for the 1978 TV movie “The Winds of Kitty Hawk.” According to the organization, it flew somewhere near 50 times and saw about 2.5 hours in the air before being damaged in the final flight for the movie. The plane spent some time at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles before Wright B Flyer purchased it in 2001. Though it no longer flies, it is capable of taxiing under its own power.
The Wright Brothers began building the original Model B in 1910. Around 100 of them were built in all, making it one of the first aircraft to be produced in quantity. The Valentine Flyer differs slightly from the original design in that is uses a Ford Model A auto engine instead of an original Wright engine. It is also slightly shorter in height and several feet longer.
Wright B Flyer is based at the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport (MGY) in Ohio. In addition to the Valentine Flyer, the group owns a second completed Model B replica and is working on building a third.
