North Carolina: Wright Brothers Testing Ground

By: Fleur Paipa

North Carolina rightfully boasts of the very first airplane flight that was made on the sandy hills of the tiny town of Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of the Barrier Islands. The Wright Brothers had come here all the way from Ohio with their flying contraption to make it fly!

Before being bitten by the idea of inventing a flying machine, the Wright brothers were the owners of a bicycle shop in the town of Dayton, Ohio. After testing many designs and facing teething problems, they were succesful in taking their first flight in an airplane made of wood, metal and canvas that was stretched across the wings of the plane. The pilot was required to lay flat on his stomach to manouvere the controls for the flight.

It was not an easy job to bulid a prototype for the first airplane. It was a tough and long drawn out process and they had to work for four whole years between 1899 and 1903 to get the aerodynamics right. Though they were successful in their first flight, they still had to work really hard till 1905 to develop a stable and viable airplane. The Wright family also contributed to the development of these airplanes in full. Wright sister helped her brothers in sewing and streching the canvas across the wing frame.

The Wright brothers actually made several trips to Kitty Hawk even before the completion of the Wright Flyer. In 1900, Orville and Wilbur made the trip to the North Carolina coast to test gliders in order to better understand aerodynamics. When they made their historic trip in 1903, the duo left in September with Flyer in tow. By this time, they were well acquainted with the area and the people, often recruiting locals to help them haul and repair the Flyer.

This flying machine was considerably heavier than the earlier models of the Wright flyers. It was 125 pounds heavier than what the brothers actually wanted it to be. Because of its weight, the plane could not be launched like the earlier versions and required the building of a 15-foot launching rail to catapult it on its trajectory. They jokingly called it "Grand Junction Railroad".

The weather in the late fall and early winter in 1903 was quite stormy, often forcing the brothers to abandon their daily tests. With this natural limitation, Orville and Wilbur began questioning if they could accomplish this massive feat this year as they intended. However the North Carolina weather soon cleared up, allowing the pair to resume their tests and make their flight into the history books.

Finally on 17th December 1903 the brothers were succesful in realising their long cherished goal. After doing a toss to decide on who would pilot the airplane, Orville got into the machine to fly off at 10.35 am. Inspite of cold weather the fight was successful and lasted for 12 seconds. The plane travelled a mere 120 feet but it was enough to put the brothers and their flying machine into history books for eternity.

After the first historic flight, the brothers made three more flights, with Wilbur piloting the longest course, staying in the air for 59 minutes and covering 852 feet. The great state of North Carolina was witness to this feat of engineering and man on a cold December day. They proudly built a monument to the Wright Brothers on top of the hill that saw their first flight in Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina to commemorate the historic event.

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Fleur Paipa is the chief editor for F north carolina, the #1 source on the internet for information about north carolina. For questions or comments about this article visit: www.fyinorthcarolina.com/articles
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