Flying exhibition to open in Helston

3:42pm Friday 16th May 2008

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An interactive exhibition celebrating a century of pioneering flight has opened at the Flambards Experience in Helston.

The exhibition is celebrating the achievements of people such as Richard Pearse, who was the first man to fly a sustained, powered plane in 1902. The exhibition charts aviation progress from that first brave leap into the unknown through to today's solar-powered flight trials.

The exhibition singles out two individuals: Richard Pearse, a New Zealand farmer whose obsession with the idea of flying led to what is now regarded as the world's first successful powered flight, and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, described by many as the world's greatest aviator.

Sir Kingsford Smith achieved more long distance flights than any other pilot in history and in 1928 made the first Trans-Pacific flight between America and Australia.

One of his descendants, Commander Douglas Kingsford-Hale, co-founded Flambards with his wife and the couple is the driving force behind the new exhibition.

"The efforts of those early pioneers, their long and perilous journeys and their hunger for faster intercontinental travel ultimately gave us the groundbreaking supersonic flights of Concorde and will eventually give us a zero carbon commercial airliner by 2050," said Commander Kingsford-Hale.

"Visitors to the exhibition will be able to plot the record-breaking flights achieved by Pearse and Kingsford Smith, and discover more about their exploits. They will also be able to appreciate the huge technological advances that Concorde represented and follow future aviation developments as they happen."

The Century of Flight exhibition is located in Flambards' Exhibition Hall and will be open to visitors from May half term onwards.