Kill Devil Hills: The Wright Brothers Legacy
On The Road Less Traveled “landed” us at the Wright Brothers Aviation Memorial and Museum in Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks. What an amazing, inspirational, and informational stop. When you ask yourself if you should give up or forge ahead at all costs, the answer is yes! Thank you, Wilbur and Orville Wright, for your insight and determination.
On site is an amazing monument erected on the top of the hill by the Congress of the United States. It was begun in 1928 and dedicated in 1932. Although Wilbur did not live to see this, he would have been proud. He died of typhoid fever in 1912, allegedly from a bad oyster.
Also on site, just down the hill from the monument, is a sculpture of the original plane, artistry by Stephen H. Smith. The state of North Carolina dedicated it for the centennial in 2003.
On those first few flights, they took turns piloting. They flipped a coin, and Orville won the first toss. Local people welcomed them and helped them lift the 605 lb plane every time they needed to make a test run. The men from the lifesaving stations would see their signal and head to the hill for the next run. In the sculpture, you can see Orville sitting in the cradle with his hand on the control. This area of Kill Devil Hills was chosen for their experiments for the solitude, local hospitality, sand for soft landings, and winds for getting the lift they were seeking.
After you’ve seen the monument and the sculpture, meander back towards the visitor center to view the spots where the first takeoffs were performed. The exact spot of the first takeoff is now home to a 650-pound rock designating the historic event. Subsequent takeoff points are also marked all the way to the end.
Inside the visitors center, you can preview Orville and Wilbur’s lives from birth to death and all the miraculous experiments in between, including the number of times they almost gave up on flight. The 1903 replica inside the center main gallery is massive. The original plane was twenty-one feet in length with a forty-foot and four-inch wingspan. It is nine feet and three inches high and weighs 750 pounds with a crew of one. A smaller sculpture behind the replica depicts the elevator being in the front, which is what allows the lift. Today, elevators are in the back. They were innovative in their time in order to enable the plane to glide off the rails and engage the wind.
Stay for the educational presentation in front of the replica, which will demonstrate how the brothers finally figured out that, like a bird, the tips of the wings needed to bend with the air currents. Our presenter, Chip, is a forty-year aviation expert who capably demonstrated the maneuvering of the wings to bend with the air currents.
It’s a trip worth taking and a history lesson in the hills of North Carolina!
