Wright Brothers National Memorial

Douglas Stover, Darrell Collins

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781467104265
• eBook ISBN: 9781439668627
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Travel
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first successful controlled, heavier-than-air powered flight on December 17, 1903, after four years of glider experiments and scientific study. At what is now the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the brothers discovered and developed the fundamental principles of mechanical flight, setting in motion a series of events that allowed the first generation of flight to travel from Kitty Hawk to the moon in the lifetime of a human being. Located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and administered by the National Park Service, the Wright Brothers National Memorial features a full-scale reproduction of the 1903 flying machine, an engine block from the original 1903 flyer, and a precise reproduction of the wind tunnel that the Wrights used to conduct their early experiments. Today, the park's mission is to commemorate the Wrights' success and to interpret the continuing worldwide significance of their dream, vision, and achievement.

One

WRIGHT BROTHERS AT
KITTY HAWK

Wilbur and Orville Wright are the inventors of the airplane. Two of seven siblings, Wilbur was born in Millville, Indiana, on April 16, 1867, and Orville was born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 19, 1871. They were the sons of Milton Wright, a circuit preacher who later became a bishop in the United Brethren Church of Christ, and Susan Koerner Wright, a homemaker. The brothers inherited their mechanical ingenuity from their mother. In a letter to American civil engineer and aviation enthusiast Octave Chanute, dated May 13, 1900, Wilbur Wright wrote, “For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man. My disease has increased in severity and I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life.” Three years later on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the world’s first successful controlled, heavier-than-air powered flight. For centuries, humankind had dreamed of flying. Within the lifetime of a generation, those dreams came true. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

On November 26, 1899, Wilbur wrote the US Weather Bureau in Washington, DC, inquiring about windy areas in the country to conduct flying experiments. On December 4, the chief of the Weather Bureau sent data on windy spots in the country. The number one windiest spot on the list was the city of Chicago and number six was Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

On August 3, 1900, Wilbur wrote a letter to the Weather Station at Kitty Hawk. J.J. Dosher, the manager of the station, responded to the letter about the winds and the topography of the land. The letter was then passed on to Kitty Hawk postmaster William Tate, who, in another letter, extends the Wrights a personal invitation to come to Kitty Hawk to conduct their flying experiments. He also describes the area as isolated with very few trees along with high dunes. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

At the turn of the 20th century, the only way to get to Kitty Hawk was by sailboat. After a seven-day journey, Wilbur arrived at Kitty Hawk on September 13, 1900. Fifteen days later, Orville arrived and remarked when he first sees it, “This is how I always imaged the Sahara Desert looked.”

“This is a great country for fishing and hunting,” Orville wrote to his sister. “The fish are so thick you see dozens of them whenever you look down into the water. The woods are filled with wild game, they say; even a few ‘b’ars’ are prowling about the woods not far away.” (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Postmaster William Tate; his wife, Amanda (also known as Addie); their daughters Irene and Pauline, aged three and two, respectively; and an unidentified woman (possibly Maxine Cogswell, Addie’s sister) are pictured on the porch of the Kitty Hawk Post Office in September 1900. On the morning of September 13, 1900, there was knocking at the door of William Tate’s house in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When Tate appeared, Wilbur took off his cap and introduced himself as Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio. (Courtesy of Wright State University Libraries.)

The brothers set up camp in a tent a half a mile south of the Tate house. In early October 1900, they began their experiments flying their glider both as a kite and a man-carrying glider. Just before leaving Kitty Hawk, the brothers spent an entire day gliding from the slopes of Big Kill Devil Hill, making about a dozen manned flights. That day, total time in the air was two minutes. Overall, they were very pleased with their experiments and looked forward to returning the next year. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Two

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
BEGIN THEIR
EXPERIMENTS (1900–1911)

In early October 1900, the Wright brothers began their flight experiments, setting in motion a series of events that allowed the first generation of flight to travel from Kitty Hawk to the moon in the lifetime of a human being. A year earlier, Orville Wright explained in detail their first interest in the subject of aeronautics. He said, “Our first interest began when we were children. Father brought home to us a small toy actuated by a rubber spring which would lift itself into the air. We built a number of copies of this toy, which flew successfully . . . but when we undertook to build the toy on a much larger scale it failed to work so well.” This was the seed planted in their young minds by their father that, after years of successes and failures, would cultivate into one of the greatest inventions in the history of world. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

The Wrights’ 1900 glider was covered with imported French sateen, a high-quality cotton fabric with a silky look. Local ladies who lived in Kitty Hawk had never seen such fine cloth. When the Wrights departed Kitty Hawk in late October, Addie Tate salvaged the cloth, gave it a good washing, and made two dresses for her young daughters. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

In the winter of 1901, the brothers built a six-foot wooden wind tunnel with a glass window on top to observe the movement of the balances. A two-bladed belt-driven fan was powered by a gas motor that created a wind speed between 25 and 35 miles per hour. The data compiled from the wind tunnel would lead to the success of their 1902 glider, the world’s first true flying machine, and their 1903 flyer. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

The 1901 glider experiments were very disappointing. The Wrights had built the largest glider anyone had ever tried to fly. However, the lift generated by the wings was only a third of what they predicted using famous glider Otto Lilienthal’s tables (coefficients of lift), and there were unforeseen problems with lateral (roll) control, also known as “wing warping.” When they left Kitty Hawk on the return train ride back to Dayton, Wilbur said to Orville, “Not within a thousand years would man ever fly.” Later, Wilbur wrote about ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk
• 2. The Wright Brothers Begin Their Experiments (1900–1911)
• 3. Monument to an Impossible Dream
• 4. Commemorating the Wrights
• 5. The Park in the 1930s
• 6. The Memorial (1950–1960)
• 7. The Visitor Center in 1960
• 8. The Park Today