AHSA to celebrate centenary of flight

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 19^th-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.