THE DAWN OF FLIGHT
LINDSAY SUTTON visits the place where the Wright Brothers changed history by taking to the air for the very first time
EVERYONE knows the words of astronaut Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon. But when he said: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he could have been referring to the Wright Brothers.
It was they, of course, who had made the first-ever successful flight just 66 years previously.
Armstrong even took with him pieces of fabric and wood from Wilbur and Orville’s original ‘Flyer.’
Such was the significance of the Wrights’ amazing feat on that windy day just before Christmas in 1903.
Last month saw the anniversary of the momentous flight during which Oliver stayed airborne for just 12 seconds, flying 120 feet. On later runs, Wilbur’s flight length that day reached 175 feet, then a wondrous 852 feet, staying airborne for a full 59 seconds. They even had a photograph to prove it.
The brothers’ breakthrough came at their trial stretch of sandy field – “just like the Sahara Desert” – at a place called Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk on the North Carolina coast of America.
Today, on that very strip of land, you can visit an explanatory vistors’ centre at the Wright Brothers’ National Memorial, and go inside the wooden huts which replicate the ones where the two men assembled their bi-plane. You can see their workshop, and where they lived, conducting their experiments over a three-year period. The boys from Dayton, Ohio, chose Kitty Hawk because of its isolation.
In modern times, this beautiful and accessible area of barrier islands is a magnet for tourists seeking sun, sea and sand vacations. Back then, there were no roads, but the swampy, cut-off area offered the three conditions the Wrights needed.
There were strong winds, the soft landing of sand, and that vital privacy to protect their idea and to allow them to concentrate on perfecting their flying machine.
Guide Karly Sias tells visitors: “They had their ups and downs in real life too. For three years, they worked on their designs and inventions, only to have repeated set-backs. After one, Wilbur said: ‘Men will not fly for another thousand years.’
“Then they realised the data they had been given about airflow and air dynamics was wrong. So they built a wind tunnel, did more experiments, built a better glider, and returned to Kitty Hawk for more testing.”
Each step got them nearer. They put on a steering rudder; they watched a turkey vulture in flight and incorporated ‘wing warp,’ which is a way of tilting up one wing end while the other lowers.
They wanted power for the aircraft but couldn’t get an engine light enough and small enough. So they made it themselves out of aluminium. Revolutionary in itself. Finally, they made propellers, which cracked, until they made them out of durable steel.
Having promised to be home by Christmas 1903, they pushed ahead fast. On December 17, they had lift-off at last. As National Park Ranger Stephanie Powell tells you: “They achieved the first heavier-than-air, powered and controlled human flight.
“And all this from two tinkerers. They were not trained engineers, but they showed that unique creative spark. They saw possibilities, not impossibilities. It needed 12 seconds to change the world completely, to do something only the birds could do. Less than three generations later, man landed on the moon. And it all began here in Kitty Hawk.”
A new visitor centre has been built to tell the Wright brothers’ story. However, a stroll out to the workshop huts gives real authenticity, and marker stones show the exact landing spots and distances of the four flights made on that historic day.
The guides are top notch, you can drive or walk up to the giant memorial on top of Kill Devil Hill to survey the scene – the sandy field, the sand dunes, and the magnificent coastline.
The Outer Banks is popular with holidaymakers, offering one of the most varied, relaxing and fascinating vacations possible.
It has three ‘firsts’ – the first human flight, the USA’s first national beach, and America’s first English colony of Roanoke. It’s called ‘The Lost Colony,’ since it disappeared without trace shortly after being founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1598. Long before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock further North.
It’s a wildlife lover’s dream too, with porpoises, dolphins and migrating birds galore. There are even wild horses, left by the Spanish when the British kicked them out 400 years ago.
A wild place – just right for Wright flight.