British Virgin Islands 2003 - 100th Anniversary of Powered Flight - Unc. Cupro Nickel

To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of powered flight, the Government of the British Virgin Islands have approved the release of a superb crown which features key events in Aviation history.

In the space of one hundred years, man has progressed from the first 12 second flight by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer to being able to fly into space and back.  Amazing technical advances have been made on a global scale in the intervening 100 years.

This magnificent coin features four aircraft which span the 100 year period.  The earliest aircraft is the Wright Flyer which Orville Wright piloted on 17th December 1903 for 12 seconds and claimed a place in history for the first powered flight.    The second aircraft is the Spirit of Louis,a Ryan monoplane which was piloted by Charles Lindbergh and completed the first non-stop transatlantic flight from 20th to 21st May 1927.  The next key event which is represented on this coin illustrates Apollo 11 which was the first manned mission to land on the moon.  The first steps were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on 20th July 1969.  The final aircraft shown is Concorde, the world’s only supersonic passenger aircraft, which began is regularly scheduled commercial supersonic flights on 21st January 1976.  Each of the above aircraft are depicted overlaying a propellor.