Fairhope artist Dean Mosher is now one of the few people in the country who can claim ownership of an important piece of history.  A tiny swatch of cloth that was used to cover the wing of the very first flying machine.

The muslin fabric is encased in a glass frame with a certificate dedicated to Mosher.  Mosher spent quite a lot of time researching the Wright Brothers for two paintings.  One was commissioned by the state of Ohio for their bicentennial.  Another to commemorate 100 years since the Wright Brothers first flew their airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The first painting depicts the one and only time the Wright Brothers flew together.  The second, which hangs in the Smithsonian Institute’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, depicts the flight Wilbur Wright made around the Statue of Liberty.  Mosher may be the only living artist to have a painting in the Smithsonian.

The Wright Brothers chose the particular fabric to cover the wings of their plane because it was light-weight and did not let air through. Very few people in the U.S. have been given a piece of the historic fabric.  Along with Mosher, Astronaut Neil Armstrong was given a piece of the cloth and took it to the moon with him in 1969.