Wright Again follows the development of the 1903 Wright Flyer from the time Wilbur and Orville Wright are young boys (1878) through the first successful powered flight on December 17, 1903.

Our site is set up as a journal or diary. There is a journal entry whenever there is historical information available that describes the Wrights' activities 100 years ago today. Most of the historical notations have hands-on science activities as well as science explanations. The Calendar shows the date of each historical notation and whether a science activity and science background are available for that date.

For example, the first date in the journal is 1878. The Historical Notation explains that Wilbur and Orville Wright are young boys. Their father has brought them a toy helicopter. As men, they later recall this is when they first became interested in flight. They made larger copies of this helicopter but did not understand why the larger versions did not fly well. The Hands-on Activity provides instructions to build this toy helicopter. Our Science Section (not available yet) explains why the larger helicopters did not perform as well. Day by day, Wright Again allows you to follow the development of the Wright Flyer and provides educational and fun activities.

You can start from the very beginning (1878) and read step-by-step how the Wrights developed the airplane, or just jump right in and start with Today's Journal Entry.

If you just want to see our hands-on science activities, you can follow the links to Lesson Plans. All the Wright Again science activities are listed here, with a brief description and some of the national science standards the activity follows.

We'll be posting new materials as close to 100-years to the day the event first took place. For example, on June 8, 2002, we post the history and a related science activity and science explanation of what the Wrights were doing on June 8, 1902. New materials are added frequently.

In addition to our educational content, we have two special projects you can follow.

Wind Tunnel Tests

We will be conducting wind tunnel tests just like the Wright Brothers did. In fact, we will even test some of the original wing shapes that the Wrights created in 1901! These artifacts are part of the Wright Brothers Aeronautical Engineering Collection at The Franklin Institute—one of the partners in the Wright Again project.

You can follow the wind tunnel tests as they are conducted and you can repeat the math calculations that the Wrights did in 1901. Their original hand written wind tunnel journals from 1901 are also part of the Wright Aeronautical Collection at The Franklin Institute. Some of the information has never been on display or published before, but we'll show you how to do the calculations and you can check your answers against the Wrights' journals.

Computer Simulations

The Wrights did not have computers to use in 1901, but today computers are used to develop modern air and spacecraft. Engineers on the Wright Again project will show you how computers are used to analyze the 1903 Wright Flyer and the 1901 airfoils (wing shapes).

We also have some mysteries to solve! The Franklin Institute has possession of the surviving 1901 Wright airfoils (used in the wind tunnel tests). Although 100-200 tests were run, not all of the airfoils have survived and for certain airfoils, data is missing. Subsequently, there are:

• Airfoils for which some data exists but the physical airfoil no longer exists (the missing airfoils). Sometimes a sketch of the airfoil is available.
• Existing airfoils where all or some of the data is missing.
• Airfoils or data with anomalies.
• Airfoils with specific historical significance.

Using modern computer numerical methods, engineers will attempt to reconstruct the shape of the missing airfoils, determine the missing test data and solve unanswered questions regarding some of the airfoils. Can they do it? Follow along!