The San Diego Air & Space Museum honored the innovation, engineering, technology and aviation excellence displayed by Orville and Wilbur Wright by running an exact replica of the engine designer Charles E. Taylor developed for them to help them invent powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903.

The running of the Wright Brothers’ engine on Dec. 17, 2023 was exactly 120 years to the day the Brothers made the first powered flight in human history. Their engine was designed and built specifically for them by Charles E. Taylor.

The Wright Brothers – two of the most iconic figures in the history of aviation – were inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum as part of the Hall’s inaugural class in 1965.

“Orville and Wilbur Wright and Charles Taylor are three of the GIANTS in aviation innovation and technology. By inventing powered flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers set all of the amazing accomplishments in aviation and space exploration the world has seen since in motion,” said Jim Kidrick, President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Amelia Earhart repeating Lindbergh’s feat five years to the day later. Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in October, 1947. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin standing on the Moon in 1969. All of these amazing technological advancements in aviation and space innovation and exploration were a direct result of the pioneering and ‘can-do’ spirit of the Wright Brothers and Charles E. Taylor.”

To see a longer video of a previous running of the engine with a more complete description, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDqepbqd_U

Since 1963, the International Air & Space Hall of Fame has honored the world’s most significant pilots, crew members, visionaries, inventors, aerospace engineers, business leaders, preservationists, designers and space explorers.

The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is the most prestigious induction of its kind in the world and is composed of hundreds of air and space pioneers, engineers, inventors and innovators, along with adventurers, scientists and industry leaders. NASA Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are honored in the Hall, as well as famous legends such as the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart. Notable inductees also include Buzz Aldrin, Chuck Yeager, Igor Sikorsky, Wernher von Braun, Jack Northrop, Jackie Cochran, William Boeing, Sr., Reuben H. Fleet, Glenn Curtiss, Walter Zable Sr., Fran Bera, Wally Schirra, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, T. Claude Ryan, Jimmy Doolittle, Bob Hoover, Ellen Ochoa, Peggy Whitson, Linden Blue, Patty Wagstaff, and many more.

See the following link: http://sandiegoairandspace.org/exhibits/online-exhibit-page/international-air-space-hall-of-fame.