Many of you who read this blog know I have a fondness for airplanes. One thing a true aerophile must do is to visit the place it all began. That place would be Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Recently, we were there at Kill Devil Hills, the actual spot the first flights took place. It was cold for March, or so I thought. Forty-five degrees and windy. Interestingly enough this temperature almost mirrors the average December temperatures. The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, first flew a powered and controlled flying machine in sustained flight on December 17, 1903 under very similar weather conditions.
We had dropped our bags off at the Shutters Hotel before exploring that famous airstrip. The Shutters was oceanfront, very nice, and cheap. The off-season rate was only $47 with a coupon.
The Wright Brothers National Memorial was only a few blocks away in this town that was still pretty much boarded up for the winter. But the Memorial had a goodly number of visitors. Inside the modern visitors center a full size replica of the Wright Flyer takes center stage. We were told that original airplane cost $700 but the flying reproduction cost $1.3 million. On the walls are the portraits of the famous siblings as well as vintage photographs. Display cases held memorabilia of these early flights. There were photographs and portraits of other famous aviators as well. At the information desk we were told the the next lecture would be given in about an hour so we went outside to look around. The landscape has changed quite a bit since 1903. What was once a flat sandy area is now covered with grass and the ocean is no longer visible. But the hill is still silhouetted against the sky. Atop that hill is a monument to the first flight. From that hill Orville and Wilbur Wright made over one thousand glider flights. From the base of that hill they launched the powered aircraft. Today there are markers indicating the distances of those first flights. 120, 175, 200 and 852 feet, respectively. Interestingly enough the duration of the first two flights were the same, twelve seconds. Could Orville have been learning to fly or was the wind a factor? There are replicas of the barn-like structures or hanger and a
workshop building which also served as lodging for the brothers is replicated as well. The lodging/workshop is furnished according to the period in which it was used. With the overcast sky and wind the forty-five degree temperature felt quite frigid much as it did on that famous December day in 1903.
We were back inside the visitor's center before the lecture. One of the docents or rather park rangers gave me a
close up look at the aircraft inside the secure area. I had always been curious how the control surfaces on the airplane were operated. The airplane cannot be touched by human hands. Therefore my guide had a handkerchief between his hand and the wing struts when he showed me how the wing was warped to produce roll while the plane was flying. The wing warping was linked to the rudder which controlled yaw. These control surfaces were linked together by piano wire. The pilot, laying prone on the wing, shifted his body to the left or right to initiate movement which turned the airplane. The up or down attitude of the aircraft was controlled by the elevators in the front and actuated by a lever at the pilot's left hand. The airplane, with the Wright designed 12 hp. engine, only weighed six hundred pounds. When the lecture started there was very little for me to learn. The lecturer delivered the facts at the fourth grade level since school students were his normal audience.
Later we visited the only wind-powered brew-pub in the United States for barbecue and crab cake sandwiches. It was good although I'm not particularly fond of the North Carolina vinegar based barbecue sauce. The crab cake had a lot of crab. And the local brew was good too.
The following morning we headed south. The Outer Banks are a chain of islands most of which are uninhabited and connected by bridges. The weather was the same as the day before except for the addition of rain. As we left Kill Devil Hills we were soon in the Hatteras National Seashore. Many times there were dunes on either side of us and in many places the sand was encroaching on the highway. There is only one highway, Highway 12. There are frequent areas to pull off the highway for you to enjoy the landscape. But it was raining and we had seen the sea many times. Occasionally there was a village but very few. The landscape in some areas is densely wooded but no palm trees like further south. We stopped on one of the more inhabited islands for lunch and had great grouper sandwiches. Very fresh fish. It was my kind of place a little tattered and torn with a squeaky floor and sort of "beachy". And, yes, The Hag was on the jukebox. We continued
on and had to wait about an hour for hour our first ferry. It was much larger than I expected. Since it was raining we stayed in the car for the relatively short voyage. Soon we were on on Ocracoke Island famous for wild horses. It seems some horses escaped from the Spanish in the eighteenth century and their descendants are still there. We saw them in a pasture. Not quite the same as the ones we saw near the Little Big Horn River, Wyoming. The last ferry ride was over an hour in duration. Claudette busied herself reading a book on her iPad and I did some drawings in my sketchbook. Normally, I would have used my phone for the drawings but the battery was dead.
Soon we were back on the mainland and moving in a southerly direction. We'd like to return on a rainless day.
The Wright Brothers National Memorial was only a few blocks away in this town that was still pretty much boarded up for the winter. But the Memorial had a goodly number of visitors. Inside the modern visitors center a full size replica of the Wright Flyer takes center stage. We were told that original airplane cost $700 but the flying reproduction cost $1.3 million. On the walls are the portraits of the famous siblings as well as vintage photographs. Display cases held memorabilia of these early flights. There were photographs and portraits of other famous aviators as well. At the information desk we were told the the next lecture would be given in about an hour so we went outside to look around. The landscape has changed quite a bit since 1903. What was once a flat sandy area is now covered with grass and the ocean is no longer visible. But the hill is still silhouetted against the sky. Atop that hill is a monument to the first flight. From that hill Orville and Wilbur Wright made over one thousand glider flights. From the base of that hill they launched the powered aircraft. Today there are markers indicating the distances of those first flights. 120, 175, 200 and 852 feet, respectively. Interestingly enough the duration of the first two flights were the same, twelve seconds. Could Orville have been learning to fly or was the wind a factor? There are replicas of the barn-like structures or hanger and a
We were back inside the visitor's center before the lecture. One of the docents or rather park rangers gave me a
close up look at the aircraft inside the secure area. I had always been curious how the control surfaces on the airplane were operated. The airplane cannot be touched by human hands. Therefore my guide had a handkerchief between his hand and the wing struts when he showed me how the wing was warped to produce roll while the plane was flying. The wing warping was linked to the rudder which controlled yaw. These control surfaces were linked together by piano wire. The pilot, laying prone on the wing, shifted his body to the left or right to initiate movement which turned the airplane. The up or down attitude of the aircraft was controlled by the elevators in the front and actuated by a lever at the pilot's left hand. The airplane, with the Wright designed 12 hp. engine, only weighed six hundred pounds. When the lecture started there was very little for me to learn. The lecturer delivered the facts at the fourth grade level since school students were his normal audience.Later we visited the only wind-powered brew-pub in the United States for barbecue and crab cake sandwiches. It was good although I'm not particularly fond of the North Carolina vinegar based barbecue sauce. The crab cake had a lot of crab. And the local brew was good too.
The following morning we headed south. The Outer Banks are a chain of islands most of which are uninhabited and connected by bridges. The weather was the same as the day before except for the addition of rain. As we left Kill Devil Hills we were soon in the Hatteras National Seashore. Many times there were dunes on either side of us and in many places the sand was encroaching on the highway. There is only one highway, Highway 12. There are frequent areas to pull off the highway for you to enjoy the landscape. But it was raining and we had seen the sea many times. Occasionally there was a village but very few. The landscape in some areas is densely wooded but no palm trees like further south. We stopped on one of the more inhabited islands for lunch and had great grouper sandwiches. Very fresh fish. It was my kind of place a little tattered and torn with a squeaky floor and sort of "beachy". And, yes, The Hag was on the jukebox. We continued
Soon we were back on the mainland and moving in a southerly direction. We'd like to return on a rainless day.
