These pages are designed for use by members of the media. In the "Press Releases" category, you will find text-only versions of our most current press releases. In the "Photographs" section are downloadable picture files from the Museum. They are for editorial use only. If you have questions or need photographs or information not found here, call Deborah Stone, 205-833-8226.

Press Release:
Explore the South's Aviation History Up Close at Birmingham's Southern Museum of Flight!

Press Release:
Southern Museum of Flight Presents
Lecture on Nellie Willhite , First Licensed Deaf Pilot
by Thomas R. Harrington of Gallaudet University
Saturday, March 25, 2006 at 11AM

Press Release:

John Reynold's Wright Flyer Replica Returns to the Southern Museum of Flight
Date: 2003/2004

A replica of the Wright Flyer was the featured attraction of the Museum's 2003 Centennial Celebration. The Flyer was well received at the Museum and by the local media. Thirty-seven articles were written about it and a dozen television shorts described its reception. The Flyer's tenure at the Museum was so successful that its builder, John Reynolds, decided to put it on permanent loan to the Museum beginning July 1, 2004.

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first man-carrying, powered, controlled flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC, John Reynolds of Georgia, decided to build a replica Wright Flyer. After constructing a model, he ordered detailed drawings from Smithsonian. His initial projection of "six months" building time for the replica expanded to fill "most of his time" for four years – from 1991 to 1994. The cost was "more that I care to admit," said John.

It was a laborious undertaking but very fulfilling to both John and his wife, Carol. They particularly enjoyed the people they met along the way – other Wright enthusiasts; Jeff Gordon (with whom they shared a program at the Atlanta International Airport); and the staff and visitors at Sci-Trek Museum in Atlanta where the plane was assembled and displayed for several months. Carol recalled a special moment at one air show when they rolled the Flyer by the Thunderbird team. With canopies up and jets roaring, the pilots – in unison – gave the Reynolds a thumbs up.

John Reynolds and his helpers came away from the project with great appreciation of the Wrights' achievement. Recreating the Wright experience and "thinking through problems of construction which the Wrights had solved" gave the replica builders insights into the way the Wrights thought about the original project. The builders were awed by the Wrights' accomplishments.

Reynolds shows Wright qualities in his determination and dedication in building the replica as authentic as possible. When he started construction, he built 70 ribs for the plane. When they turned out to be wrong, he built 70 more. Before the project was completed, there had to be some modifications based on cost economy (spruce from Alaska was not cheap) and safety. However, one California replica builder said John had accomplished in four years what he and a committee had been working on for ten.

The regular admission to the Museum ($5 for adults and $4 for seniors and students) is the only cost for viewing the Flyer. It may be seen during normal Museum hours: Tuesday through Saturdays, 9:30-4:30, closed Sundays and Mondays. Call 205-833-8226 for more information.