50 plus DC - Wright Bros

Probably the best known fact about North Carolina is that the first controlled, powered flight took place in the state. Orville and Wilbur Wright were two of seven children of Milton Wright, a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren, and his wife Susan. While living near Richmond in Indiana the brothers picked up an appreciation of precision manufacturing from their grandfather, a skilled carriage maker. In 1884 the family moved to Deyton in Ohio and there in 1889 the brothers set up a printing business. In 1892 they opened a bicycle shop and later they started to manufacture their own bicycles. Their interest then turned to powered flight. On December 17, 1903 the Wright Flyer I took to the air at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, starting the era of powered flight.

Wright Brothers Monument

The Wright Brothers needed somewhere with consistent and reliable winds to test their powered aeroplane. They investigated the area around Kitty Hawk on Outer Banks of North Carolina and identified a site near the sand dunes known as the Kill Devil Hills about 6 kilometres (4 miles) from the town. The Brothers believed that a stable flying machine required 3 axis control and in 1900 they they used the site to test the controls on a glider. Improved gliders were tested in 1901 and 1902 followed by the first powered flight in 1903. The 3 axis system remains the basis for control of modern aircraft. The site of the first powered flight is now Wright Brothers National Memorial with an 18 metre (60 foot) high memorial built atop Kill Devil Hill. It was dedicated in 1932 in the presence of Orville Wright.

Replica of the Wright Flyer

The original Wright Flyer made four flights after which it was damaged beyond repair when a gust of wind lifted it into the air. The restored Flyer is on show at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. A full sized replica of the original Wright flyer is on show at the National memorial, together with an engine block made for the original Flyer. While the Wright Flyer is of importance as the first powered aircraft, its longest flight lasted only 59 seconds. The Wright Brothers built further flyers in 1904 and 1905, and in 1905 they achieved a flight lasting a full 39 minutes.

First flight markers

A series of markers demonstrates that first few flights were very short. The stone block on the left represents the start of each flight and the three markers to its right represent the length of the first three flights. The first flight was only 36 metres (120 feet) while the third (the marker on the extreme right) was just 61 metres (200 feet). On its fourth and final flight of the Wright Flyer stayed aloft for 260 metres or 892 feet, but the marker for that flight is not visible in this picture.

Wright Brothers National Memorial

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