Fairfield Celebrates Gustave Whitehead With Display Of Replica Airplane

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A full-size replica of Gustave Whitehead’s Condor 21 airplane will be displayed on Thursday, Aug. 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Sherman Green, at Post and Reef Road in Fairfield.

A display of a full-size replica of Gustave Whiteheads Condor 21 airplane will be held at Sherman Green Aug. 14.
Photo Credit: *File*

Nicole Briggs

08/13/2014 5:00 a.m.

Aug. 14 will be “Gustave Whitehead Day” in Fairfield as proclaimed by First Selectman MikeTetreau.

Thursday marks the 113th anniversary of Whitehead’s 1901 “First in Flight” in Fairfield, which took place two years before the 1903 Wright Brothers flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. Whitehead drove his plane from Bridgeport to Fairfield to make his first flight, which landed in what is now Jennings Beach.

The annual aviation publication “Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft” proclaimed Whitehead as the first man to fly a plane, making Fairfield the location for the first motorized heavier-than-air flight.

Fairfield resident Andy Kosch led a team that built and flew the replica of Whitehead’s airplane in 1986, proving the airworthiness of the design.

“Whitehead’s first in flight is exciting and very meaningful for our community and puts Fairfield in the spotlight with the most important milestone in aviation history,” said Tetreau.

For more information on Whitehead, click here.

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