An Alternate Time Line- The 1905 Flyer III Flies Again!

(Revised 6/17/23) And now a look into the future of a possible time line: The 125th anniversary of the Wright Brother's flights of December 17th, 1903 promises to be spectacular, according to committee members in Dayton Ohio. Little could they know that certain individuals in one of the 50 States of our great Union had plans to sabotage this momentous celebration....

The diabolical  group had driven the distance from their home State through the late evening hours, and eventually arrived at the 70/75 interchange just north of Dayton in the dark hours of the night of December 16th, this year of 2028. Their evil plans involved a daring climb to the very top of the 1905 Wright Flyer III monument, with the heinous intention of spray painting the words "Connecticut First in Flight" on the underside of the Flyer's wings. Little could they know that a freak monster winter storm was working its way toward Dayton, whipping up a frenzy, and headed for a collision course with destiny. 

The 50 ton, 1905 Wright Flyer III stainless steel structure with 144' wing span had been completed in 2027, honoring Wilbur and Orville Wright, the inventors of the world's first practical aeroplane, perfected at Simm's Station in the years 1904 and 1905, and housed at Dayton's Carillon Historical Park since 1950. Three times the scale of the original, it perches 270' above the ground, and is viewed by passengers of more than 53 million automated vehicles a year.
The record low temperatures of 2026 finally convinced scientists world wide that the planet was undergoing global cooling. Growing ice sheets at both poles were affecting weather patterns, and this December of 2028 was no different. Arctic air  from the north converging with warmer air from the west, and the usual hot air extending from the Connecticut area, swirled together in a wintry mass labeled by the media as the storm of the century, nicknamed "Gust of White" due to the projected high winds and blinding heavy snow.
"As the nation braces for the Gust of White heading(1) for its neighborhoods, millions will be pounded by the swirling mass of blinding white snow, sleet, hail, freezing rain, and an occasional shark. Repair crews from around the nation are prepared to assist in neighboring states where substantial storm damage is expected to result in extended power outages affecting millions."

With backpacks full of spray cans, the Connecticut spoilers scale the base of "The Triumph of Flight". Like stink bugs on a squash vine, they climb upward toward the Wright Flyer, prepared to lay their eggs upon the historic fabric, to bring their false claim before the eyes of the world in the coming morning light. But the approaching storm head had another plan in store.  

They didn't see it coming, but they heard the roar. The cold front hit the saboteurs with full force, instantly freezing them in place on the steel supporting cables at their climbing positions roughly 200' above ground. The gale force was not sufficient to pry the Flyer from its perch, as the monument had been meticulously designed structurally to withstand such a scenario.  However, it was not designed to withstand a fiery multi-ton chunk of space rock, set in motion eons ago, hurtling downward from the magnificent desolation of outer space, buzzing(2) through the Earth's atmosphere, coincidentally aimed directly for the monument's structural base. Upon impact, the structure's lower base was vaporized, and the steel supporting cables broke free, whipping about the Connecticut stink bugs in their frozen positions on the surly strands of steel in the wintry white out.

Though the supporting structure had vaporized due to the intense heat of the meteorite impact, the Wright Flyer remained stationary in the air, soaring in place for a period of time, 9 minutes and 45 seconds to be exact(3), until the gale force winds turned the Flyer and took it south toward the sleeping city. Steady for the course, it followed 75 southward to eventually pass directly over the Main street bridge, over the former location of Steele High School(4), barely clearing the Centre City Building, (the former United Brethren Publishing House)(5),  swinging westward along Third Street, over the river, and whipping southward near Broadway Street(6), it suddenly made a clean circle, the first of its flight(7), making a bee line(8) back toward downtown Dayton, for a destination 8 miles to the east.

In the early morning hours of December 17th, 2028, the Wright Flyer III gently landed on its skids in the snow covered field of Huffman Prairie. Sliding to a stop, it came to rest adjacent to the reconstructed Wright hanger. The only witnesses to this great historic event were just a small handful of cold Connecticut historical revisionists frantically trying to pry themselves loose from the steel strands that lay entangled in the snow behind the Flyer. Perhaps this time, they'll see the cold hard facts and confess that here on this spot, Man learned to fly.

Huffman Prairie, WPAFB

For the real facts concerning "The Triumph of Flight" monument, go to Wright Image Group


For another alternate time line, go to "What it the Wright Brothers had not experimented in flight in the early 1900's?"

Copyright 2021-Getting the Story Wright

Follow the puns:
1. Play on claim of first flight by Gustave Whitehead, the biggest snow job yet.
2. Play on "Magnificent Desolation" by Buzz Aldrin.
3. Orville Wright's record soaring time at Kitty Hawk, October 24th, 1911.
4. Katharine Wright taught at Steele High from 1899 through 1908.
5. Bishop Milton Wright editor of Religious Telescope at Brethren Publishing House 1869-1877.
6. Passing Wright Cycle Shop on 3rd street, and Orville's Lab on Broadway.
7. First full circle was performed in Wright Flyer III at Huffman Prairie, September 20th, 1904.
8. Circle flight witnessed by Amos Root of Gleanings with Bee Culture.


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