image via wikipedia [w]

The Museum of Flight has acquired a precise replica of the Wright Flyer for its collection:

The $1 million replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer, one of three built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the historic flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., will be displayed initially in the Bill and Moya Lear Gallery and later in the lobby . . . The Wright Flyer was built in Orville and Wilbur Wright’s bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, at a cost of about $1,000 and made its first flight on Dec. 17, 1903. [p-i]

While it’s completely understandable that the museum would want to include the plane that made the first powered flight in its extensive collection of aircraft, the difference in price between the original and the replica is the most astounding part of this report. A hundred years later and at a thosand times more expensive, you’d think that the replica flyer would be good for something other than decorating a lobby. For instance, flying or perhaps traveling through time.

Of course, we kid. See the authentic fake for yourself, starting next month.