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Stafford Regional Airport Terminal [Photo: Rick Horner]
After eight years of planning, fundraising, and construction, the Langley Flight Foundation will unveil an exact reproduction of Samuel Pierpont Langley’s Aerodrome No. 5 at the Stafford Regional Airport in Stafford, Virginia on May 11, 2024, at an event scheduled for Monday, May 6, starting at 4 p.m.

The project was made possible through a public/private partnership between Stafford County, the Langley Flight Foundation, the Stafford County Historical Society, the Stafford Regional Airport, and private donors. The aircraft will be on permanent display at the airport, along with interactive kiosks with educational programming on the science and history of flight.

The Foundation is hosting a community open house on May 11th from 11:00 am - 4:00 pm at the Stafford Regional Airport with aviation activities for kids and aerodrome demonstrations every half hour. Aerodrome No. 5 was one of several experimental aircraft developed by Samuel Pierpont Langley, the Secretary of the Smithsonian, in the mid-1890s to demonstrate heavier-than-air mechanical flight. Powered by a 1.5 hp steam-powered engine, the unmanned aerodrome weighed just over 24 pounds and flew 3,330 feet over 1 minute and thirty seconds on May 6, 1896, in Stafford County. T

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[Photo: Stafford County fire and rescue]
Virignia State Police: At 4:54 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Virginia State Police responded to a report of a small, private aircraft making an emergency landing at the Stafford Regional Airport. The aircraft was unable to deploy its landing gear and made an emergency landing on the runway. The pilot and a passenger were uninjured. The FAA and NTSB were notified and the incident remains under investigation.

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A small-scale replica of Aerodrome No.5, a lighter-than-air craft launched near Quantico in 1896, seven years before the famed Wright Brothers flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. [Photo: Rick Horner]

Updated -- The Stafford County Board of Supervisors could use coronavirus money to help tell the story of Aerodrome No. 5, now believed to be the first case of unmanned flight.

The Langley Foundation has sought American Rescue Plan Act funding to create a new exhibit at the Stafford Regional Airport, a replica of Aerodrome No. 5, flown by Samuel Pierpont Langley on May 6, 1896, in Stafford County.

dThe foundation's president Chris Hornung hopes to raise $300,000 to build the exhibit. The funds from the county would be a one-to-one match with the foundation responsible for raising the other $150,000.

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Ribbon cutting ceremony at Stafford Regional Airport [Photo: Rick Horner]

After 15 years of planning and negotiation, Stafford Regional Airport has completed its goal of extending its runway by 1,000 feet.

The airport held a ceremony in honor of the extension, which included the flight of a blue Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane, the first plane that flew from and touched down on the newly extended runway.

The ceremony included former and current members of its authority and various members of the Stafford County government and its board of supervisors.

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A small-scale replica of Aerodrome No.5, a lighter-than-air craft launched near Quantico in 1896, seven years before the famed Wright Brothers flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. [Photo: Rick Horner]

The Stafford Regional Airport held an event to announce the launch of its Aerodrome No.5 project, which will tell the story of the county's connection to early American aviation.

Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley is noted for successfully conducting the first heavier-than-air flight on May 6, 1896, with the designated Aerodrome No. 5. Langley chose Chopawamsic Island, a small land mass in the Potomac River between Quantico and Stafford County, as his launching point. 

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Stafford Regional Airport Terminal [Photo: Rick Horner]
The runway extension for the Stafford County Regional Airport is slated to be completed by September, according to Airport Director James Stover.

Stover briefed the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, giving a healthy outlook on the airport's business, including a progress report on the ongoing expansion of its runway.

According to Stover, the 1,000 foot runway extension is expected to be completed on time and come in at budget. Phase I of the expansion, which included inspections, permits, and other approvals has been completed on time and has come in slightly under budget. Phase II which involves the actual extension of the runway itself was declared by Stover to be completed by September 2022.

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The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will consider creating an Economic Infrastructure Fund that will secure future funds for infrastructure improvements along Centreport Parkway, near the Stafford Regional Airport.

Conceptually, the fund would be used as a savings account that would use a portion of the county's tax revenue to support future growth and development in the area where a new 200,000 square foot Amazon fulfillment center will open

The new center is expected to create at least 100 full and part-time associate jobs and potentially hundreds of driver opportunities.

The Centreport area has long been targeted by the county's Community and Economic Development Committee as an area with potential for both industrial and distribution businesses. 

According to county documents, the fund model is based on the use of future tax revenues as opposed to other options such as Community Development Authorities, which raise funds through additional taxes.

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The Stafford County Regional Airport Authority is discussing the possibility of holding a recycling day.

A letter sent to the airport by Diane Jones, the Recycling Manager of the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board, or R-Board, is requesting permission from the airport to hold a bi-annual collection for household, hazardous, and electronic waste on their property.

Specifically, the R-Board wants to hold the event in their parking lot in a fashion similar to events they held in Stafford and Fredericksburg over the years.

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During a closed-to-the-public ceremony sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, today's Stafford County Regional Airport broke ground on a project to extend its existing runway.

A small group was invited to join the Stafford Airport Regional Airport Authority in the biting January wind to celebrate the beginning of construction on their new runway extension, which has been in the works since 2007.

The construction will add 1,000 feet to the existing 5,000 runway, which is 100 feet wide. Many officials on the Airport Authority and the governments of surrounding counties are certain that it will help bring greater economic growth to the area.

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