This summer Farnborough International Ltd commemorates both 60 years of the SBAC Airshow at its Hampshire base and the centenary of the UK’s first sustained powered flight. As part of these celebrations, the show will pay respect to those responsible for making human flight a reality with the International Pioneers of Flight Pavilion, presented by BAE Systems.

Early aviators, who were carrying out trials from as early as the mid-1800s, suffered many setbacks and a number lost their lives as they worked on a way to solve the great mystery of heavier-than-air controlled flight. But eventually their perseverance paid off and by the turn of the 20th century various teams and individuals were ready to build and test functional aircraft models. By working together, the global aerospace industry surmounted the challenges it faced, a trend that continues to this day.

With the help of living ancestors of those great aviation pioneers, Farnborough International Ltd and BAE Systems will celebrate this spirit of cooperation by constructing the International Pioneers of Flight Pavilion, which will hold four accurate, full-scale replicas of the early 20th century aircraft. For the first time in history the Cody Flyer (1908), AVRO Biplane (1908) and AVRO Triplane (1910) and the Wright B Flyer (1911) will be displayed together under one roof.

The Cody Flyer replica, built by hand using authentic methods and materials (as far as possible), replicates the very aircraft that undertook the first flight in Farnborough in 1908, while The Wright B is presented by volunteers from the National Aviation Heritage Alliance based in the Wright brothers’ home town of Dayton, Ohio. The Cody Flyer, the AVROs and the Wright aircraft represent the heritage and pedigree of cutting edge technology and innovation in the aerospace industry, which has always been the unique quality of Farnborough International Airshows.

Another highlight of the pavilion will be three ‘flight simulators’, one replicating the controls of the Wright B, one the Cody Flyer and another simulating the AVRO Biplane. These will enable visitors to try their hand at ‘flying’ the aircraft themselves and also demonstrate the range of methods that emerged when different brains confronted similar challenges.