Synopsis: Sure the Wright Brothers' first flight looked a little clumsy. But can today's aviation experts do any better with the same materials? Junkyard Wars answers that very question with a special edition episode to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight.

We spanned the world to find experts from Britain, France and the United States, and put them on assignment. Their mission: to build vintage airplanes from the 1900s using retro rubbish and tools of the time ... in just 20 hours! However, it's one thing to build the planes. These birds also have to fly, and they'll be put to the test over a dry lakebed in California's Mojave Desert. International pride is at stake too - the Americans won the competition back in 1903, but which country will triumph in this 21st century restaging?

Hosts Tyler Harcott and Karyn Bryant will be joined by Robert Llewelyn, host of the United Kingdom's Scrapheap Challenge, in what promises to be the Flight of the Century! (Courtesy Discovery Networks, 2003)

The Teams:

(l to r): Ken Kellett, Andrew King, Norm Kellett and Paul Stecewycz
The American Eagles
The American Eagles' Captain Ken Kellet is an enthusiast who's already built the only exact replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer. He also flew it and lived to tell the tale! This time, the team will be building the Walden XI, a replica of the first American monoplane that flew in 1909. Unfortunately, there are no plans for the plane, so they'll have to rely on Ken's ingenuity as they fabricate this monster out of old steel tubes.

(l to r): Darren Arkwright, Bill Brooks, Wendy Phillips and Iain Evans
The British Buzzards
The British Buzzards are led by Bill Brooks, a micro-light designer and test pilot who built a glider for a past episode of Junkyard Wars. He's hoping for the best of both worlds by creating a fantastic hybrid - wings from the Wright Flyer, the tail from the French Antoinette monoplane and the whole lot held together by some crazy idea cooked up from Bill's imagination.

(l to r): Géraud Lafage, Eric Toquoy, Dimitri Carstensen and Gerald Senger
The French Falcons
The French Falcons have Geraud Lafage as captain. He has his own company that builds kit planes out of wood and fabric in Southwest France, so he's no stranger to the mysteries of period plane construction. He wants to go for a Blériot XI, a replica of the famous monoplane that made the first crossing of the English Channel in 1909.

Airdates:
It premiered on The Learning Channel on Sunday, March 9th, 2003.