Wright Brothers National Memorial

Hi Blog! Saturday, January 3, 2015, was our first full day in the North River Campground and RV Park in Shawboro, North Carolina. We needed to make the most of Saturday because Winter Storm Frona was bearing down on us. The Weather Channel predicts severe thunderstorms for Sunday where we are, which will probably keep us in all day. So, Saturday was our day for adventure, but with rain showers all day, it will have to be mostly indoor adventure rather than hiking or biking unless we want to get wet. Time to check off a couple National Park Visitor Centers from our bucket list.

First up was the Wright Brothers National Memorial located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. We arrived just in time to catch the Ranger Program. A good ranger can make or break a visit and this guy was great. He took us right back to the winter of 1903 when two ingenious brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, from Dayton, Ohio, chose the sparsely populated area known as the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct a series of experiments that resulted in the world’s first heavier than air, powered, controlled flight. Here is the ranger standing in front of a replica of the world's first working airplane - The Wright Flyer.

From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, the brothers conducted extensive preliminary glider tests that developed their skills as pilots and engineers, and also solved some of the basic problems related to flight. Here is a replica of the final glider design which they used to build their Flyer.

The story of these brothers embodies the American ideal of hard work overcoming all obstacles. Wilbur and Orville Wright were not just lucky bicycle mechanics but succeeded because of study and scientific experimentation. Their story is the realization of a dream that had existed for centuries; it is not simply about building the first plane, but rather about how they scientifically solved the problem. It is a story about those who inspired and those who aided the brothers.

This boulder marks the lift off point for each flight made on December 17, 1903. Here we are about to take flight back in time.

A 60-foot granite monument, dedicated in 1932, is perched atop 90-foot-tall Kill Devil Hill, commemorating the achievement of the Wright brothers. It is the only monument in U.S. history ever dedicated to a person living at the time of its dedication.

As we walked up to the top of Kill Devil Hill, we could see that the carving on the side of the monument that was inspired by Icarus, the Greek mythological figure who tried to fly from Crete by attaching feathers to his arms with wax.

Here Kathy gets an up close look at Wilbur.

The view from the top of Kill Devil Hill is pretty impressive. Now just imagine jumping off this hill in a glider!

Back in 1903, this grass covered field was nothing but blowing sand. The sand made for soft glider landings, but the Wright Brothers couldn't use wheels on their Flyer because the wheels would get stuck in the sand. They had to design a monorail for the Flyer to slide on as it was taking off. Here is a replica of the rail. It wasn't very long, as the boulder marks the liftoff spot.

On December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright released the restraining wire. The flyer moved down the rail as Wilbur ran next to it to steady the wings. Just as Orville left the ground, John Daniels, from the nearby lifesaving station, snapped the shutter on a preset camera, capturing the historic image of the airborne aircraft with Wilbur running alongside. Here is a copy of the original photo.

There were four successful flights that day.  Each one going further than the next - 120 feet, 175 feet 200 feet and a WHOPPING 852 feet. That last distance is much longer than it sounds - almost 3 football fields in length.  Here is the monument to the fourth and final flight that day.

However, some say there was a fifth flight when the Flyer was caught by a gust of wind as the crew was carrying it back to the hangar. John Daniels, the lucky photographer, grabbed hold of the machine just as it went airborne. The plane rolled over and crashed making John Daniels only the third person to ever fly an aircraft, and the first person involved in an airplane crash.

The story of the Wright Flyer doesn't end here. While the brothers had abandoned their other gliders, they realized the historical significance of the Flyer. They crated it and shipped it back to Dayton, where it stayed in storage for 9 years. It was almost destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in March 1913.

They wanted to donate the Flyer to the Smithsonian, but the Secretary of the Smithsonian at that time, Charles Walcott, didn't recognize the Wright Brothers' claim to be the first in flight.  Instead, the Smithsonian honored the former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, whose 1903 tests of his own Aerodrome on the Potomac were not successful. Secretary Walcott was a friend of Former Secretary Langley and wanted to see Langley's place in aviation history secured. Due to the legal patent battles then taking place, recognition of the 'first' aircraft became a political and legal, as well as an academic, issue.

In 1925, Orville attempted to persuade the Smithsonian to recognize his and Wilbur's accomplishment by offering to send the Flyer to the Science Museum in London. This action did not have its intended effect, and the Flyer went on display in the London museum in 1928. It remained there in "the place of honour," except during World War II when it was moved to an underground vault some 100 miles from London where Britain's other treasures were kept safe from the conflict.

In 1948, the Flyer was returned to the United States and now hangs in the Smithsonian, which is why the plane displayed in the Visitor Center is a replica:

That wasn't the end of its journey. Portions of the original fabric and wood from the Flyer traveled to the surface of the moon aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module.  Those pieces are proudly displayed in this Visitor Center.

What's next - Mars?