Wright Engine May Be Going On Tour

To move or not to move. That is the question … for the Engineers Club of Dayton. The organization owns and houses an original Wright Brothers engine and is considering a request to put it on tour in conjunction with next year’s 100th anniversary of flight celebration. Rolls Royce’s jet-engine division wants to display the engine at the Paris Air Show and at other venues around the world next year. Charles Rolls, one of the company’s founders, piloted a Wright brothers plane on the first back-and-forth crossing over the English Channel, in 1910. The London-based company proposed to manage the tour, but some aviation buffs fear that the engine — with a value estimated near $3 million — may be too fragile for an international jaunt. Club member Jack Darst recently told the Associated Press, “It needs to be treated like any irreplaceable artifact. It should be kept in an environmentally controlled enclosure and not moved.” Any agreement would need the approval of the club’s 13-member governing board. The club, founded in 1914, has about 600 members.