"John Travolta has served as an ambassador for flight around the world," said Lawrence A. Belli, National Park Service. "It is fitting that he will join us in honoring the Wright brothers' achievements 100 years later."  

"I was thrilled to kick-off the national celebration last December," said Travolta. "It is an even bigger honor to be asked to participate in the activities of the day 100 years later on the very ground where it all began."

SOMETHING FOR ALL AT THE CELEBRATION
In addition to aviation-related activities, daily musical entertainment will be provided at 1 p.m. on the Main Stage. The line-up of entertainment includes:

• The Beach Boys (December 13); 

• The Temptations (December 14); 

• Aaron Tippin (December 15); and 

• Lee Greenwood (December 16). 

Tickets are still available for purchase for December 13-16 at $10 per day until the 35,000-ticket limit has been reached for each of those days. Tickets for December 17 are sold out. Tickets are currently available between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time by going online at www.wrightbrothers.reserveworld.com, or by calling 1-800-973-7327, or (301) 722-1257 for callers outside of the United States. 

NOVA PRESENTS WRIGHT BROTHERS' FLYING MACHINE 
Tuesday, November 11, 2003, at 8PM ET on PBS www.pbs.org/nova/wright

Commissioned exclusively for the program, the Model B is the handiwork of Ken Hyde and The Wright Experience. Also participating in the program are some of the world's foremost Wright experts, including Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of the Aeronautics Division at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and author of The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright; and John D. Anderson, Jr., Curator of Aerodynamics at NASM and author of leading books on aeronautical engineering. 

After their successful flight of December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers knew they had just begun, and devoted the rest of the decade to honing and perfecting their invention to make it practical. By 1910 they had the Model B, an airplane that was modified to make the first air crossing of the continental U.S. in 1911. Wright-trained pilot Cal Rodgers was at the controls for that flight, which took 49 days and was punctuated by numerous stops and crash landings. Since then, aviation has advanced by astonishing leaps and bounds. 

It has been seven decades since a wood, wire, and cloth Wright machine took to the skies with its distinctive warping wings and dual-chain driven propellers -- that is, until now. NOVA shows that the Wright technology is still an impressive, awe-inspiring sight.  

Try your hand at the same simulations the Wright Experience test pilots use to train for flying the real thing!

The Wright Experience Flight Simulator provides a whole new experience; the first historically- and aerodynamically-accurate flight simulation offered to the public. Using wind tunnel data taken with detailed full-scale reproductions of the actual aircraft, the game uses modeling technology developed for use in current military flight simulators.

In addition to the simulations, you receive a wealth of background on the airplanes themselves, the construction process of the replicas built for the First Flight Centennial Celebration, the wind tunnel testing and the process of developing the simulations themselves. It all adds up to a truly Wright Experience!

A portion of sales benefits the charitable objectives of The Wright Experience and the First Flight Foundation.

"By far the best and most authentic simulation 
of the Wright Brothers'  experience of flight" 
Kevin Kochersberger, 
Centennial Test Pilot

In this new show, Winslow focused seven new paintings around the Wright Brothers and the history of flight. They are canvases where history, art and stage meet. 

At right:  the artist and "Wilbur Makes a Right Turn" and "Taking Off, 2020".

In the series on the history of flight or the Wright brothers' exploits at Kill Devil Hills and Ft. Myers, the cast of characters includes the brothers as well as dancers, gymnasts, dreamers, aeronauts, the people that you see around you every day, and often the artist as director. 

For information, log on to www.thefrasergallery.com