Curtiss-Wright Helps Launch the Wright Experience

Company Founded by Three of America's Greatest Aviation Pioneers Helps

Re-Create Historic Airplane and First Flight

ROSELAND, N.J., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) announced today that the company founded by three of aviation's greatest pioneers will play a major role when the Wright Brothers' historic first flight is recreated in painstaking detail next December along the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The international company has signed on as a major sponsor of the Wright Experience, the non-profit organization based in Warrenton, Va., that has built what could be the world's most historically accurate replica of the famous airplane that proved powered flight by man was possible.

"It's pretty easy to build a Wright Flyer replica that looks like the first plane, but it's very difficult to build one that is an exact reproduction," says Wright Experience Founder Ken Hyde. "Building this flyer was the ultimate reverse engineering job with a major catch - we had to ignore what we had learned over the past 100 years and embrace the Wright brothers' way of thinking."

The aircraft performed well in recent wind tunnel trials, a significant accomplishment according to aviation experts. The replica's real test, however, will be at 10:35 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2003, when pilots using the model will re-enact the historic flight exactly 100 years (to the minute) later.

"Anyone who has ever been interested in any aspect of flight will be captivated by this project," said Martin Benante, chairman and chief executive officer of Curtiss-Wright. "In re-creating the Wright Flyer, we are celebrating milestones in aviation, American history and the human spirit. At Curtiss-Wright, we are proud of our historic connection to the Wright brothers and proud to support the Wright Experience."

The only company in the world with a direct link to aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, Curtiss-Wright was formed in 1929 by merging the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. Today the diversified company continues to build on its legacy of innovation by providing integrated subsystem solutions, products and services for the aerospace and defense industries, as well as for commercial and industrial applications.

In addition to helping give birth to a new industry and the world's first Century of Flight, Curtiss-Wright pioneered the development of aeronautical power plants. All three of the company's founders (Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Glenn Curtiss) -- representing three of the most renowned individuals in American aviation history -- have been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The trio is being honored worldwide throughout the year as part of various Centennial of Flight celebrations.

ABOUT CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW, CW.B) is a diversified company headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey. The global company designs, manufactures and overhauls products for motion control and flow control applications and additionally is a provider of metal treatment services. The firm employs approximately 4,300 people.

The company's motion control business segment, Curtiss-Wright Controls, is headquartered in North Carolina and is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally. (See curtisswright2014.q4web.com and curtisswright2014.q4web.com/centennial.asp.)

ABOUT THE WRIGHT EXPERIENCE

Celebrating the achievements of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the Wright Experience is researching, reconstructing, testing, analyzing and documenting authentic, full-scale reproductions of the Wright brothers' developmental aircraft and engines. (See www.wrightexperience.com.)

SOURCE Curtiss-Wright Corporation

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