North
Carolina
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Wright Brothers Memorial on Kill
Devil Hill
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First powered flights on December
17, 1903
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Marker at the beginning of the
flights - the rail on the ground is where the airplane rolled before flying
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Workshop of Orville and Wilbur
Wright - they slept in the cots hanging in the ceiling
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Workshop and hangar
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Markers of the first four flights.
The first is 120 ft. fromt start, the fourth one is 852 ft.
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Fred at the marker of the fourth
flight - it went 852 ft. and lasted 59 seconds.
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Hang gliders are a popular sport
using the sand dunes like the Wright brothers did
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Bodie Lighthouse
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Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in new
location
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Previous lighthouse location
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Typical ocean-side house - three
stories
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Surf-fishing Fred
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The main attraction in the Cape Hatteras area is the site of the Wright Brothers first powered flight. Just think, just 99 years ago, they made the first successful powered flight. Amazingly, we have gone on to jet power and have put a man on the Moon since that first flight of 12 seconds and 120 ft distance. Another amazing set of facts is that the Wright brothers first came to Kill Devil Hill in 1900 with a glider with only a 17 ft. wingspan. This glider was the first to employ the concept of twisting the wing to make it turn. This was their first innovation from earlier gliders. Earlier gliders just shifted their weight like hang-gliders do today. This first 17 ft. glider was flown like a kite with connecting wires to move the control surfaces. The next year, 1901, they came back with a larger glider, 22 ft. wingspan. This larger glider still did not create enough lift to satisfy them, but they did glide 335 ft. When they went home that year, they built a wind tunnel to use to design a new airfoil. When they returned in 1902 they increased the wing span to 32 ft. They also had a new airfoil and a vertical stabilizer to counteract the adverse yaw. They made over 600 glides in 1902 and perfected the controls by making the vertical stabilzer movable. That year they went home satisfied they had created an aircraft that they could control, all they needed was power to keep it up.
The internal combustion engine was only about 20 years old at this time. The first engine was made by the people that later started the car company that came to be known as Mercedes Benz. The company name is actual named after Mr. Benz' daughter Mercedes. Quickly the internal combustion engine became popular because it was lighter and more powerful than the steam engines and manufacturers sprung up all the world. The Wright brothers had calculated that they needed 8 horse power to propel their aircraft and that the weight could not exceed 180 lbs. thereby balancing the weight of the pilot. None of the manufacturers could meet their specifications so they had to design their own. They went to one of their mechanic friends, a Mr. Taylor, and he said, "you go build the flyer and I will build the engine". When he completed the engine, the weight was within the 180 lbs. and created 11.77 horse power, more than enough.
In 1903 they went back to Kill Devil hill with a 605 lb. flyer with a 40 ft. wingspan. They tried once on Dec. 14, Wilbur made the first attempt, but pulled up too soon and nosed over damaging the flyer. It took them 3 days to make repairs. At 10:35 am on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright took the controls, the motor was started and down the rail he went. The first successful, power flight lasted 12 seconds and he flew for 120 ft. They had set a goal for themselves that to prove their concept they needed to fly at least 300 ft. They pulled the glider back up the rail and Wilbur took the controls for the 2nd flight and he flew 12 seconds, but flew for 175 ft. that time. On the 3rd flight Orville flew for 15 seconds and covered 200 ft. The 4th flight of the day was the best of the day, Wilbur flew for 59 seconds and covered 852 ft., almost 3 times their goal.
On the day of the flight, their were 5 people there besides the brothers. They had been getting assistance from some of the men that manned the rescue station on the beach to help move the flyer on the ground. In addition to these 4 men, there was another young man on the beach that day, he is actually the person that took the orginal pictures of the first flights. After moving the flyer back to the lauching rail after the 4th and most successful flight, the brothers took a break to warm up in the workshop; remember this was December 17, the middle of winter and the wind made the air very cold. While they were warming up they looked out to see the wind take the flyer and turn it over and over, smashing it beyond repair, but they had made history that day with four powered flights. This was the first time pilots learned that they needed to tie down their aircraft in high winds.
They drove into town to send a telegram to their father back in Dayton, Ohio. It was brief, "made four flights against a 21 mph. headwind, starting from level ground with engine power alone, average speed 31 mph, with the longest flight of 59 seconds, inform the press and we will be home for Christmas". The local newspaper, in the long tradition of embelleshing the truth, reported the next day, "that the Wright brothers had flown their flyer in a 3 mile circle around the area and had even flown out over the ocean", I guess the Press has always slanted the news a little.
If you go to Kill Devil Hill you will see an area that has changed dramatically since the first flights. Kill Devil Hill, used for their glider flights, has actually moved south by 450 ft. as Mother Nature continued to shape the sand dunes. The changes continued until the government planted grass to stop the erosion. Even with those changes, the actual beach is about 1 mile further east than it was when the flights were made.
The Wright Brother's flyer did not make it into the Smithsonian Institute until 1948. You see, the Smithsonian was sponsoring another design at the same time as the Wright brothers. The Smithsonian aircraft never successfully flew, but their aircraft was put into the museum with the label of "The first aircraft 'capable' of powered flight"; even though it never flew. It was not until the early 1940's that the Wright brothers were able to convince the Smithsonian to accept their flights as the first. The Wright Brother's flyer was on display in Europe at that time and it took several years to move it back to the US. It now hangs in the Smithsonian along with many other aircraft that have made history in the last 100 years.
Until you hear the whole story of their design changes made in those 4 short years, it is hard to comprehend the vast improvements they made in those short 4 years; they went from flying kites, to gliders, to a powered aircraft.