The Aviation Historical Society of Australia (NSW) Inc and the Sydney branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society will celebrate the centenary of the first heavier-than-air powered flight in Australia at an event at the Powerhouse Museum on December 9.
AHSA (NSW) president Ian Debenham said that both organisations now recognise December 9 1909 as the date of the first flight, when Englishman Colin Defries flew a Wright Model A The Stella about 115 yards at Victoria Park Racecourse in Sydney.
Guest speaker at the event will be eminent Australian aviation historian, David Craddock, who will give a talk titled ‘Sydney’s Wings’, focusing on the aspiring aviators who attempted flights in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, leading to the successful flights by George Augustine Taylor at Narrabeen Beach on December 5 1909 in a Voisin inspired biplane glider, followed by Colin Defries in his Wright Model A biplane just four days later.
The event will be held in the Coles Theatre, Powerhouse Museum, on Wednesday 9 December, commencing at 7.45pm, with visitors welcome.
