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Memorial for first flight in U.K. rededicated

By T.S. Shankar

FARNBOROUGH (LONDON) July 24. O ffering his good wishes to the ongoing 2002 Farnborough International Air Show, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, struck an optimistic note that aerospace industry across the world was looking forward to better times.

"Farnborough International offers a superb opportunity to do business and to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the global aerospace market'', he said, adding that "the U.K. aerospace is, of course, well represented at the show, demonstrating the range and scope of one of the country's most important high skill, high technology manufacturing sectors''.

Even though the show did not hog the limelight with mega aircraft acquisition announcements by any of the major carriers, participants paused for just a moment to shine the spotlight on aviation history, and remember a significant pioneering British-American achievement from the early years of flight.

The memorial at Farnborough aerodrome marking the exact site of the first airplane flight in Great Britain was remembered and rededicated during a brief ceremony on Monday.

It marked the take-off point for American-born pilot Colonel Samuel F. Cody, who on October 16, 1908, was at the controls of "British Army Aeroplane No.1''. The flight covered all of 1,390 ft, marking the birth of powered flight in the U.K.

A few years later, Col. Cody was killed in an air crash at Farnborough. His epochal flight was commemorated in 1964 with a stone obelisk topped by a model of his aircraft and a bronze plaque. However, over the ensuing decades, the plaque was lost and the marker largely forgotten. The re-dedication of the memorial was being under-written by the American firm, Kallman Worldwide Inc., organiser of the U.S. pavilion at Farnborough 2002. The plaque reads: "This plaque has been placed by the American exhibitors at the 2002 Farnborough International air show as part of the effort to recognise and commemorate a century of aviation cooperation between the U.K. and the U.S.

According to Tom Kallman, CEO, the rededication of the Cody Memorial was part of a year-long series of activities leading up to the Aviation World Fair 2003, the centennial celebration of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. The world fair will take place at Newport News-Williamsburg International airport next April 7 to 27 and combine an aerospace industry trade show with a public presentation that features historic exhibits, aerial performances, a flyby of vintage and modern aircraft, and events recognising pioneers in aviation from around the world.

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