Historic Langley aircraft replica proposed for Stafford Regional Airport
By: James Scott Baron
Source: The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
July 5, 2020
Philip Hornung wants to put a replica of an old airplane inside the passenger terminal of the Stafford Regional Airport.
“We’re in the very early stages of things,” said Hornung. “Right now, we have the data necessary to design and build Aerodrome No. 5, and we have the most knowledgeable people in the county committed to do this.”
The original Aerodrome No. 5—a 30-pound unmanned aircraft with a 14-foot wingspan—first launched on May 6, 1896, off the coast of Chopawamsic Island, which lies about 1,500 feet off the flight line of Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico. The historic project was led by inventor, aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist Samuel Pierpont Langley. On that day, Langley was responsible for the world’s first successful unmanned flight of an engine-driven, heavier-than-air vehicle. Hornung, a retired school psychologist and former chairman of both the Stafford County Board of Supervisors and the Stafford Regional Airport Committee, wants to memorialize Langley’s historic achievement by building an exact replica of Aerodrome No. 5 and placing it permanently at the regional airport. History books tell readers the birth of aviation began on Dec. 17, 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright flew their 605-pound “Flyer” near Kill Devil Hills, N.C. But Hornung begs to differ with those accounts, saying the birth of aviation occurred in the Widewater region of Stafford.
“Seven years before [the Wright Brothers’ flight], three unmanned flights by Langley occurred off the coast of Chopawamsic Island,” said Hornung.
On May 6, 1896, Aerodrome No. 5 was launched from a spring-actuated catapult, mounted atop a houseboat near the 13-acre island. It was the first unmanned, successful heavier-than-air sustained mechanical flight. Two flights, both less than a mile in distance, were also made that day. Inventor Alexander Graham Bell documented the event with photographs that he shared with the international scientific community. Six months later, Langley returned to the same location to successfully launch Aerodrome No. 6, which had improved, rounded wing tips. A plaque on Stafford County’s Widewater Peninsula mentions a 1903 Langley flight, but does not mention the three flights the inventor oversaw seven years earlier.
“The 1903 flight had no historical significance,” said Hornung. “There’s no mention [on the plaque] of the three flights that occurred there in 1896.”
In fact, two unsuccessful manned flights were attempted in 1903 by Langley with engineer–pilot Charles Manly at the controls. On Oct. 7, the craft failed to fly, dropping immediately into the Potomac River after launch. On Dec. 8, the craft collapsed at launch and again fell into the river. Hornung hopes to get Aerodrome No. 5 built by The Wright Experience in Warrenton. Those engineers have already built several replica Wright Brothers’ Flyers to exact specifications.
“They’ve made scores of them, said Hornung. “These people take pride in their work.”
To create the detailed schematics for builders to work from, Hornung visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, where the original Aerodrome No. 5 sits in storage. Ordinarily displayed with other aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Aerodrome No.5 was temporarily transferred to the Chantilly facility during the ongoing 7-year remodeling of the popular museum in the nation’s capital. Officials in Chantilly carefully removed Aerodrome No. 5 from its crate for Hornung; Ken Hyde, founder of The Wright Experience; and two engineers, allowing them to take over 800 measurements and hundreds of photographs of the 125-year-old aircraft.
“There are no blueprints of Aerodrome No. 5,” said Hornung. “We had to take photos and measurements and reverse-engineer what the design looked like and what it really was.” With a memorandum of understand in hand from the Stafford Regional Airport naming Hornung as the projects’ leader, Hornung approached Stafford officials with his proposal to build and display the replica at the airport. “They thought it was a great idea and we’ve had a number of meetings,” said Hornung.
John Holden, Stafford County’s director of economic development and tourism, said even though the county supports the idea, it cannot officially commit yet to funding the project, which could cost upwards to $250,000. “We’re going to try to find a way to put this project together and find the funds to do that,” said Holden. “We’re looking to see if we can secure some funding, probably through grant or foundation funding.” Holden said having Aerodrome No. 5 at the county airport would not only be an educational opportunity for students visiting the exhibit, but would also help celebrate the rich history and culture of Stafford. “We just need to find the funds to put it together,” said Holden. “Anything we can do to support the project, we will.”
Hornung is preparing a detailed proposal for county officials to review and evaluate. Once the project begins, Hornung said the entire effort will take about two years to finish. Hornung also hopes private donations will cover some of the anticipated expenses, which call for the exhibit to be suspended from the ceiling of the airport passenger terminal. Plans call for the ability to lower the aircraft to eye level for a closer examination. “Where it is in the Smithsonian now, it’s with a whole bunch of other planes. You can’t see or it or appreciate it there,” said Hornung. Hornung said the airport exhibit would also feature a video presentation to tell the story of Langley and his aircraft.
“It’s long overdue,” said Hornung. “This was the first time in the history of mankind that mechanical flight, heavier-than-air, was demonstrated, and it happened here in Stafford.” Hornung said Langley was never successful with a manned flight off the Widewater coast. But Hornung added that Langley didn’t become interested in flight until he was 50 years old, then persevered with a determined spirit throughout his endeavor to launch a successful flight. In a June 1897 article published in The Strand magazine, titled “The New Flying Machine,” Langley looked back on the Aerodrome No. 5 project:
“I have brought to a close the portion of the work which seemed to be specially mine—the demonstration of the practicability of mechanical flight; and for the next stage, which is the commercial and practical development of the idea, it is probable that the world may look to others. The world, indeed, will be supine if it does not realize that a new possibility has come to it, and that the great universal highway overhead is now soon to be opened.”
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