The Stafford Regional Airport Authority wants to celebrate the region as the “birthplace of aviation.”
At a recent meeting, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors were treated to a presentation by the Authority’s liaison Phil Hornung who proposed attracting potential tourists by leaning on the county’s connections to the beginnings of aviation.
History has always been a big selling point for tourism in the Stafford and Fredericksburg area and the Stafford Regional Airport Authority is looking to potentially tap that well in a very unexpected way.
On May 6, 1896 Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley launched his Aerodrome #5 from a boat off the coast of Chopawamsic Island which sits in the portion of the Potomac River that runs through Stafford County. This predates the famous Wright Brothers flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina by seven years.
The authority seeks to pursue a partnership with the county as well as Warrenton-based company The Wright Experience to create a display that will attract tourists interested in aviation to learn more about the events that make Stafford the birthplace of aviation. The original plan was to get the actual Aerodrome #5 on loan from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but that was shot down by the Smithsonian.
The current plan conceived by the Airport Authority is to have a replica of the Aerodrome #5 created by the Wright Experience that will be on display in the airport’s building. The Wright Experience works on restoring and reconstructing historical aircraft.
Before the coronavirus pandemic made its worldwide impact, Stafford County was looking for ways to attract tourism to the area. While already known as the birthplace of George Washington, the county has been looking into other ways to attract people to visit Stafford.
Recent examples of such attempts involved attracting sports tourism such as bringing four games from the 2020 Jefferson Cup youth soccer tournament as well the Kayak Bass Fishing Trail Series Tournament.
