100 YEARS OF WORK IN FLIGHT EXHIBIT.

Byline: Daily News

LANCASTER - One hundred years of powered flight will be displayed at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center exhibit at this year's Antelope Valley Fair.

The NASA exhibit, housed in the fair's Technology Center on the west side of the fairgrounds, will draw attention to the epic achievements of the Wright brothers at the dawn of aviation as well as the contributions of NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, to the development of air and space flight.

The central feature of Dryden's Centennial of Flight exhibit is a series of three dioramas depicting the birth and growth of flight research from the earliest days to the 21st century.

The first shows the Wright Flyer poised for takeoff on that historic day on Dec. 17, 1903, when Orville and Wilbur Wright first lifted off the sands of Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

The second diorama portrays the HL-10, one of five wingless lifting bodies flight-tested at Dryden in the late 1960s and early 1970s that contributed in part to the aerodynamic design of the Space Shuttle.

The third diorama showcases the Active Aeroelastic Wing project, a current Dryden flight research effort that is exploring active control via digital electronics of wing flexibility for maneuvering - essentially a high-tech, 21st century twist on the Wright brothers' wing-warping system for turning and stability.

The three dioramas are bridged with photographs of a variety of cutting- edge research aircraft flown at Dryden over the past half-century. In addition, models of the Wright Flyer, the solar-electric Helios Prototype and the Active Aeroelastic Wing F/A-18 are on display adjacent to the exhibit. The Wright Flyer model is enclosed in a canopy from a modern jet fighter, illustrating the strides that aviation has taken over the past century.

Dryden volunteer staff will be on hand to help explain the exhibit and answer questions from fairgoers during most hours that the exhibit is open.