Exhibition celebrates Wright flight centenary

Published on Tuesday 15 April 2003 01:00

THE great-great-niece of the aviation pioneers the Wright brothers admitted yesterday she was "not too keen" on flying as she opened an exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of her ancestors’ first flight.

Martha Wright Crouch, 48, of Linton, Cambridgeshire, and her daughter Sarah, 16, were at the aviation branch of the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, to celebrate the first manned, powered, controlled flight.

Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer for 120 feet - 70 feet less than the length of Concorde - in 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on 17 December, 1903.

He and his brother, Wilbur, ran a bicycle company in Dayton, Ohio, and had worked for years to create an aircraft capable of being powered and controlled.

Their invention changed the course of history and created the aviation industry.

"Talk of uncle Orv and his brother is part of our family folklore," said Mrs Wright Crouch, an art historian who was born in the USA. "I’m so proud to be a Wright and so proud to be here to open this exhibition."

She added: "Ironically, I’m not too keen on flying myself. It’s not a major problem, but you worry about crashing.

"However, flying at 30,000ft in an airliner is very different to the flying the Wright brothers were doing."