December 17, 1903. The day that Orville and Wilbur Wright finally figured out Pitch, Roll and Yaw. We can go and have fun in the backcountry because of your persistence, patients, perseverance and not giving up on a dream. Rest in peace you done good...

In 2003...

...the 100th anniversary, my 16 year old son and I flew our Maule around the entire external border of the lower 48 states. 14,680 miles, 23 days and 123 flt. hours. Camped under the wing at the most isolated grass and dirt strips we could find.

We spent an entire afternoon at Kitty Hawk...saying "Thank You" to those two who made it all possible.

Bob

Man, that would have been one awesome trip and adventure.

z3skybolt wrote:In 2003...

...the 100th anniversary, my 16 year old son and I flew our Maule around the entire external border of the lower 48 states. 14,680 miles, 23 days and 123 flt. hours. Camped under the wing at the most isolated grass and dirt strips we could find.

We spent an entire afternoon at Kitty Hawk...saying "Thank You" to those two who made it all possible.

Bob

Bob, I know I shouldn't envy you and your trip ,but I sure do. That would be an awesome thing to do. I had to drive from Vale, OR. to FFA.

My older brother and I made the trip to Kitty Hawk on Dec 16 of 2003. Couldn't get tickets for the 17th. We had a drier day than the 17th but it is a day I shall never forget. Shook hands with one of my heros..Scott Crossfield..and was amazed at how the crowd grew during the day and how the crowd acted. To visit the spot where it all officially started...this flying thing....puts me at a loss for words.
Maybe someday I will fly my own plane to Kitty Hawk. I would very much like to do this before my flying days are over!
z3skybolt..I envy you for achieveing a goal that I would like to do.
I'm sitting at this computer, it's 10 deg F outside with snow on the way, dosen't look like I'm going to be able fly this weekend...I think I'm going to cry!
HC

It's snowing..visibilty is about 500 ft. Guess I'll go home and put Greg's (BRLP's) DVD on and fly around the back country of Idaho.
HC

hicountry wrote:My older brother and I made the trip to Kitty Hawk on Dec 16 of 2003. Couldn't get tickets for the 17th. We had a drier day than the 17th but it is a day I shall never forget. Shook hands with one of my heros..Scott Crossfield..and was amazed at how the crowd grew during the day and how the crowd acted. To visit the spot where it all officially started...this flying thing....puts me at a loss for words.

I was event staff that week, working security (A lot of VIPs plus the POTUS came through) and EMS. Very memorable. We were wet and muddy much of the time but still had a blast.

Best thing about the whole event? Almost every model of aircarft in the present US Military inventory did a scheduled overflight of the event grounds during the last two days. At least every one that we know of I believe the SR-71 BB was the only model AWOL. Even the U2, B2 stealth and the prototype F-22 did flybys. Loudest was the B-52, runner up was the B-1B bomber - those suckers are loud.

I was standing on the hill 100 ft NW of the monument during the flybys...man the planes just kept coming. I used up all of my XD cards before the planes quit coming.
Funniest thing I saw that day..the Air Force had a gyroscopic flight simulator that spun the rider in all directions. My brother and I were eating a sandwich in an adjacent tent, this guy gets off of the ride, stumbles over the front of an Air Force pickup and heaves up his breakfast..damn funny at the time!

Bringing this thread back alive........

I stopped in at Kitty Hawk this last weekend. If you haven't, you should! Either fly in, or drive in. It should be well worth it.

Just to stand in the same spot as the first flight of the Wright brothers was very cool. Take a moment and reflect on the short 100+ years since the first flight and imagine all that has been accomplished since then. Pretty flippin amazing to me.





Rebuilt hangar and shed.


Was this anybody we know??


More pics on my FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4698832751826.189095.1324371585&type=1&l=05f0b7792d
(Sorry for all the self pics. I should have gotten some with out my ugly mug)

58Skylane wrote:Bringing this thread back alive........

I stopped in at Kitty Hawk this last weekend. If you haven't, you should! Either fly in, or drive in. It should be well worth it.

Just to stand in the same spot as the first flight of the Wright brothers was very cool. Take a moment and reflect on the short 100+ years since the first flight and imagine all that has been accomplished since then. Pretty flippin amazing to me.





Rebuilt hangar and shed.


Was this anybody we know??


More pics on my FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4698832751826.189095.1324371585&type=1&l=05f0b7792d
(Sorry for all the self pics. I should have gotten some with out my ugly mug)

I agree that everyone should go. And if you make it that far you should spend a day at Okracoke...probably one of the nicest beaches you will ever see in my opinion. No people for miles since its hard to get there.

Probably more like 108-110 years. There are several witnessed claims to powered, controllable flight prior to the Wrights. Most of the credible ones come from the late 1890s or 1901-1902. They include Richard Pearse of New Zealand, Preston Watson of Scotland, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaysky of Russia, Clément Ader of France, and closer to home, The Rev. Burrell Cannon and Gustave Whitehead of the USA. Whitehead was a German immigrant who probably has the most well documented evidence for achieving flight before the Wrights, in 1899. A replica of Whitehead's airplane has been built and successfully flown. The Wrights get credit with the first powered flights for generally two reasons. First, they carefully documented every step, leaving a much clearer historical record than many of the other inventors of their time. Another is the terms that accompanied the donation of the Wright Flyer to the Smithsonian Museum: Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities administered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Airplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight.

None of this should detract from the accomplishments of any of these men as they typically worked alone, without a large body of knowledge to draw upon. Each truly can be said to have made a contribution to powered flight as we know it today - even if by figuring out what didn't work!

By the way, I agree re: Okracoke. Cool place!

Best,
O-2

The morning of Dec 16th. My brother took this picture along the flight line markers before the crowd came.



Later that afternoon..before the airshow...a FEW more people showed up!



What an amazing day!!

OscarDeuce wrote: First, they carefully documented every step, leaving a much clearer historical record than many of the other inventors of their time. Another is the terms that accompanied the donation of the Wright Flyer to the Smithsonian Museum: Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities administered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Airplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight.

Understandable. This condition may now seem overreaching but is directed at the Smithsonian's stubbornness in giving them credit in the first place. Until sometime after WWI, the Wright Flyer was displayed in London because the Smithsonian gave credit for first flight to Langley. Langley's efforts were more public than the Wrights and funded by the Smithsonian. His STEAM powered aircraft were launched from a boat in the Potomac River using a catapult. They never gained ANY altitude, nor did they fly as far as Orville's first flight. As one reporter described it: "it simply slid into the water like a handful of mortar." Nor did it have capability of 3 axis control.

c170pete wrote:Until sometime after WWI, the Wright Flyer was displayed in London because the Smithsonian gave credit for first flight to Langley. Langley's efforts were more public than the Wrights and funded by the Smithsonian. His STEAM powered aircraft were launched from a boat in the Potomac River using a catapult. They never gained ANY altitude, nor did they fly as far as Orville's first flight. As one reporter described it: "it simply slid into the water like a handful of mortar." Nor did it have capability of 3 axis control.

We may never know who was actually first, but it wasn't Langley. I believe Langley's design, after substantial improvement, did fly, but after the Wrights and all the others mentioned in my previous post.

Best,
O-2