Oakland Museum at the Oakland International Airport

February 21 – June 6, 2003
Flights of Fancy
Oakland International Airport
located in the connecting walkway between the two terminals and
in the entranceway of Terminal One.

From the dawn of history, human beings have looked to the sky and fancied flight, yearning for some way to make it their own. Mankind’s inspired efforts to acquire the ability to fly captured our imagination while birds and fantastical winged creatures filled the world’s mythologies.

Pioneers of aviation were frequently inspired by the fictional works of writers and artists whose fanciful ideas greatly expanded public consciousness and made vivid the real possibilities of flight.

As creative dreamers imagined the most amazing contraptions, inventors captured by the spirit of scientific inquiry began countless experiments to test flying machines of every description. Their fantastic creations, often resembling a familiar mode of transport like a bicycle or boat, were sketched, built and sometimes pushed into action—often resulting in the loss of the inventor or pilot.
While the Wright Brothers were leading us in 1903 to the modern world of aviation, everyday folk continued to be captivated by popular culture’s fantastic vision of what the future of flying would bring. An airplane in every driveway? An urban landscape filled with flying machines?

If you’re traveling through Oakland International Airport before June 6, 2003, take a look at the exhibition that celebrates the 100th anniversary of modern aviation. It’s a dizzying look through time at some of the wonderful and whacky ideas which have brought us to the present and which may one day lead us into an as yet unimaginable future.

Donna Reid
Curator