The First Flight in North Carolina

The “Tarheel State” of North Carolina has an unusual boast. The state is home to the very first airplane flight, made on the sandy hills of the tiny town of Kitty Hawk on the chain of Barrier Islands known as the Outer Banks. Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright may have lived in Ohio, but they took their flying contraption south in hopes of making 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 visited Kitty hawk many times before they actually completed their flying machine. They went to the North Carolina coast and tested gliders to get a better idea of aerodynamics. Finally, they left for Kitty Hawk in Spetember 1903 to take their first test flight. They have now become well versed in local topography and often used the services of local people to help them in towing and maintaining the flying machine.

The 1903 version of the Wright Flyer was much heavier than the previous planes. It was 125 pounds heavier than the brothers intended and they had to build a 15-foot launching rail to help propel the plane skyward. People called it the "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.

On December 17th, 1903 the Wright brothers accomplished their goal and their Flyer took off into the air. After a quick coin toss to see which brother would serve as pilot, Orville climbed into the controls and took off at 10:35 in the morning. Although the temperatures were cold, the plane soared into the North Carolina sky for a whole 12 seconds. The flight was only 120 feet long, but enough to propel the brothers and their plane into the history books.

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.