Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - Oct. 26, 2019

What a fun day!
Visiting Kitty Hawk North Carolina where the historical flights happened is such an enhancement to all the viewing that we have done in Dayton, Henry Ford Museum, Smithsonian, and visiting the Glenn Curtis Museum.  What a trip!

We started with the Monument to a Century of Flight in the town of Kitty Hawk.  At the entrance is a granite marker with the poem written by James G. Magee Jr., a 19 year old whose words have inspired pilots for years.  The poem is one of Lou’s favorites.

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark or even eagle flew --

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

The monument has 14 wing shaped stainless steel pylons with highlights 

from 1903 to 2000.

This one caught our eye  because we had seen the Link Trainer Simulator

in the Glenn Curtiss Museum.

Also, the first flight attendant was in 1930

Does anyone know when Aunt Alice was a flight attendant?

The last and tallest column.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial

North Carolina

 I loved seeing this because we had been at the house in Dayton.

I am so glad that we had seen all the museums in our trip.  

It has been a terrific background to seeing 'the real deal'.

We had also been to their bicycle shop in Dayton.

 A terrific view of the life sized model with the 

Monument on the Kill Devil Hill in the background.

With the strong winds and the steep slope of this hill, the Wright Brothers were able to test and develop their gliders, which had to be hand carried back to the top of the hill through deep sand thousands of times.  This  90 ft sand dune has been stabilized by planting grass to keep the high winds from blowing it away 

( and to give us a nice walking path!)

With their thousands of short glider flights, they were able to develop their flying skills when they were ready for powered flights.

The large stone marks where the first flight took off on Dec. 17, 1903.  

The stone markers chart the four flights paths.

1st. one is 120 feet, took 12 seconds.

2nd one is 175 feet, took 12 seconds.

3rd on is 200 feet, took 15 seconds.

4th one is 852 feet, took 59 seconds.

Notice the rail next to the large stone.  

They had to build a 60 ft. rail with a wheeled cradle to launch the airplane.

The picture below shows the original bicycle hub used as a roller on the rail.

I was so glad we did not have to walk through the deep sand!

Life-size bronze and stainless steel sculpture recreates the historic 1903 flight