WRIGHT BROTHERS: FABRIC SEGMENT FROM THE 1903 KITTY HAWK FLYER.

WRIGHT BROTHERS: FABRIC SEGMENT FROM THE 1903 KITTY HAWK FLYER.
Original sample of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, measuring approximately 1 1/4 inches square, affixed to an 8 x 10 inch certificate with image of the flyer taking off at Kitty Hawk, printed with a statement of authenticity reading "ORIGINAL FABRIC FROM KITTY HAWK 'WRIGHT FLYER' CERTIFICATION For Henri Bouche ... I certify that this piece was used in the first successful flight in history by Orville Wright on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C." bearing the signature of Lester D. Gardner.
WITH: A piece of wood from the Wright's hangar at Kitty Hawk, on a small souvenir card bearing a photo of the hangar, printed "THE FIRST HANGAR — KITTY HAWK. A true piece of the First Airplane Hangar in the World." Wood approximately 1/2 x 1/4 inches. Also included is a Letter Signed by Lester Gardner to Henri Bouche regarding the souvenir.

Orville Wright reassembled the Kitty Hawk machine for its first public exhibition in 1916, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Finding the original fabric could not be used, he substituted new fabric and kept some of the original fabric. On his death in 1948, Orville's executors discovered the fabric and asked Gardner, who had also been on the board of M.I.T., to distribute sections to aeronautical luminaries. Henri Bouche was a French aviation pioneer serving in World War I and later publisher of L'Aeronautique and a board member of Air France.