Wright Brothers' Memorial

Practically across the street from our hotel was the Wright Brothers Memorial, famous site of the first powered flight. We all enjoyed it a lot more than we expected, I think. It was really interesting to learn how focused, systematic, and determined the brothers were in solving the problem of flight. They were like the archetypal scientists, with a really important and interesting, yet solvable, question sitting right before them. The glider they brought down one year to test was a total disaster and would barely fly at all. They were of course discouraged, but went home to figure things out. They realized the data they had been using was really unreliable, so they built their own wind tunnel and carefully tested some 120 wing profiles. The glider they built the next year based on their data worked like a dream, and they had essentially solved the problem of flight and only needed to power their glider. Isn't that a tidy story? That year they went back home and wrote to every automobile engine company with the specifications of the engine they needed. Every single one said it wasn't possible to build. So they and the machinist in their bicycle shop designed and built it themselves, exceeding their power requirements. Isn't that a nice detail? They brought the plane back down from Dayton the next year and flew. It's hard to imagine how thrilling it must have been. Here's the very spot where it happened, with four markers indicating the length of the first four flights.

And a little re-creation.


There was a nice ranger talk that kept the kids' attention, and then kites to fly.


We then walked around the monument erected on the hill where the tested their gliders. Apparently the whole place used to be just sand, like Jockey's Ridge. They apparently chose it because it was one of the windiest places in the country and offered soft landings.

I was really impressed by what the brothers had done by the end of the morning.