Chapter II: Part 2

The 1903 machine had a wingspan of 40 feet, 4 inches, a camber of 1 in 20; a wing area of 510 square feet; and a length of 21 feet, 1 inch. It weighed 605 pounds without a pilot. The machine was not symmetrical from side to side; the engine was placed on the lower wing to the right of center to reduce the danger of its falling on the pilot. The pilot would ride lying prone as on the gliders but to the left of center to balance the weight. The right wing was approximately 4 inches longer than the left to provide additional lift to compensate for the engine which weighed 34 pounds more than the pilot.

Fore-and-aft control was by means of the elevator in front, operated by hand lever. The tail of the machine had twin movable rudders instead of a single movable rudder developed in the 1902 glider. These rudders were linked by wires to the wing-warping system. Their coordinated control mechanism was worked by wires attached to a cradle on the lower wing, in which the pilot lay prone. To turn the machine to the left, the pilot moved his body, and with it the cradle, a few inches to the left. This caused the rear right wingtips to be pulled down or warped (thus giving more lift and raising them) and the rear left wingtips to move upward, and at the same time the coordinating mechanism introduced enough left rudder to compensate for yaw. The rudder counteracted the added resistance of the wing with the greater angle and the resulting tendency of the machine to swing in the opposite direction to the desired left turn, as well as aiding the turn on its own account.

On September 25, 1903, the Wrights arrived once more at their Kill Devil Hills camp. They repaired and again used the living quarters which they had added to the storage building in 1902, called their "summer house." Their 1902 glider, which they had left stored in this building after that season of experiments, was again housed with them in the building. They erected a new building to house the powered machine alongside the glider-storage and living-quarters building and commenced the chore of assembling the powered machine in its new hangar. Occasionally they took the 1902 glider out for practice. After a few trials each brother was able to make a new world's record by gliding for more than a minute.

The first weeks in camp were a time of vicissitudes for the Wrights. Assembling the machine and installing the engine and propellers proved an arduous task. When tested, the motor missed so often that the vibrations twisted one of the propeller shafts and jerked the assembly apart. Both shafts had to be sent back to their Dayton bicycle shop to be made stronger. After they had been returned, one broke again, and Orville had to carry the shafts back to Dayton to make new ones of more durable material. The magneto failed to produce a strong enough spark. A stubborn problem was fastening the sprockets to the propeller shafts; the sprockets and the nuts loosened within a few seconds even when they were tightened with a 6-foot lever.

It was then that the weather acted as if it were threatening the brothers not to venture into a new element. A gale swept over their camp with winds up to 75 miles an hour. As their living quarters rocked with the wind, and rainwater flowed over part of the floor, the Wrights expected to hear the new hangar building next door, which housed the powered machine, crash over completely. "The wind and rain continued through the night," related Wilbur to his sister, "but we took the advice of the Oberlin coach, 'Cheer up, boys, there is no hope/' We went to bed, and both slept soundly."

It became so cold that the brothers had to make a heater from a drum used to hold carbide. Wilbur assured his father:

However we are entirely comfortable, and have no trouble keeping warm
at nights. In addition to the classifications of last year, to wit, 1,
2, 3, and 4 blanket nights, we now have 5 blanket nights, & 5 blankets
& 2 quilts. Next come 5 blankets, 2 quilts & fire; then 5, 2, fire, &
hot-water jug. This as far as we have got so far.

At last the weather cleared, the engine began to purr, their hand-made heater functioned better after improvements, and, with the help of a tire cement they had used in their bicycle shop, they "stuck those sprockets so tight I doubt whether they will ever come loose again." Chanute visited their camp for a few days and wrote November 23, "I believe the new machine of the Wrights to be the most promising attempt at flight that has yet been made." Both brothers sensed that the goal was in sight.

The powered machine's undercarriage (landing gear) consisted of two runners, or sledlike skids, instead of wheels. These were extended farther out in front of the wings than were the landing skids on the gliders to guard against the machine rolling over in landing. Four feet, eight inches apart, the two runners were ideal for landing as skids on the soft beach sands. But for take-offs, it was necessary to build a single-rail starting track 60 feet long on which ran a small truck which held the machine about 8 inches off the ground. The easily movable starting rail was constructed of four 15-foot 2 x 4's set on edge, with the upper surface topped by a thin strip of metal.

The truck which supported the skids of the plane during the takeoff consisted of two parts: a crossbeam plank about 6 feet long laid across a smaller piece of wood forming the truck's undercarriage which moved along the track on two rollers made from modified bicycle hubs. For take-offs, the machine was lifted onto the truck with the plane's undercarriage skids resting on the two opposite ends of the crossbeam. A modified bicycle hub was attached to the forward crosspiece of the plane between its skids to prevent the machine from nosing over on the launching track. A wire from the truck attached to the end of the starting track held the plane back while the engine was warmed up. Then the restraining wire was released by the pilot. The airplane, riding on the truck, started forward along the rail. If all went well, the machine was airborne and hence lifted off the truck before reaching the end of the starting track; while the truck, remaining on the track, continued on and ran off the rail.

With the new propeller shafts installed, the powered machine was ready for its first testing on December 12. However, the wind was too light for the machine to take-off from the level ground near their camp with a run of only 60 feet permitted by the starting track. Nor did they have enough time before dark to take the machine to one of the nearby Kill Devil Hills, where, by placing the track on a steeply inclined slope, enough speed could be promptly attained for starting in calm air. The following day was Sunday, which the brothers spent resting and reading, hoping for suitable weather for flying the next day so that they could be home by Christmas.

On December 14 it was again too calm to permit a start from level ground near the camp. The Wrights, therefore, decided to take the machine to the north side of Kill Devil Hill about a quarter of a mile away to make their first attempt to fly in a power-driven machine. They had arranged to signal nearby life-savers to inform them when the first trial was ready to start. A signal was placed on one of the camp buildings that could be seen by personnel on duty about a mile away at the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station.

The Wrights were soon joined by five lifesavers who helped to transport the machine from camp to Kill Devil Hill. Setting the 605-pound machine on the truck atop the starting track, they ran the truck to the end of the track and added the rear section of the track to the front end. By relaying sections of the track, the machine rode on the truck to the site chosen for the test, 150 feet up the side of the hill.

The truck, with the machine thereon, facing downhill, was fastened with a wire to the end of the starting track, so that it could not start until released by the pilot. The engine was started to make sure it was in proper condition. Two small boys, with a dog, who had come with the lifesavers, "made a hurried departure over the hill for home on hearing the engine start." Each brother was eager for the chance to make the first trial, so a coin was tossed to determine which of them it should be; Wilbur won.

Wilbur took his place as pilot while Orville held a wing to steady the machine during the run on the track. The restraining wire was released, the machine started forward quickly on the rail, leaving Orville behind. After a run of 35 or 40 feet, the airplane took off. Wilbur turned the machine up too suddenly after leaving the track, before it had gained enough speed. It climbed a few feet, stalled, and settled to the ground at the foot of the hill after being in the air just 3½ seconds. This trial was considered unsuccessful because the machine landed at a point at the base of the hill many feet lower than that from which it had started on the side of the hill. Wilbur wrote of his trial:

However the real trouble was an error in judgment, in turning up too
suddenly after leaving the track, and as the machine had barely speed
enough for support already, this slowed it down so much that before I
could correct the error, the machine began to come down, though turned
up at a big angle. Toward the end it began to speed up again but it
was too late, and it struck the ground while moving a little to one
side, due to wind and a rather bad start.

In landing, one of the skids and several other parts were broken, preventing a second attempt that day. Repairs were completed by noon of the 16th, but the wind was too calm to fly the machine that afternoon. The brothers, however, were confident of soon making a successful flight. "There is now no question of final success," Wilbur wrote his father, though Langley had recently made two attempts to fly and had failed in both. "This did not disturb or hurry us in the least," Orville commented on Langley's attempts. "We knew that he had to have better scientific data than was contained in his published works to successfully build a man-carrying flying machine."

_December 17, 1903: The Day Man First Flew_

Thursday, December 17 dawned, and was to go down in history as a day when a great engineering feat was accomplished. It was a cold day with winds of 22 to 27 miles an hour blowing from the north. Puddles of water near the camp were covered with ice. The Wrights waited indoors, hoping the winds would diminish. But they continued brisk, and at 10 in the morning the brothers decided to attempt a flight, fully realizing the difficulties and dangers of flying a relatively untried machine in so high a wind.

In strong winds, hills were not needed to launch the machine, since the force of the winds would enable the machine to take off on the short starting track from level ground. Indeed, the winds were almost too gusty to launch the machine at all that day, but the brothers estimated that the added dangers while in flight would be compensated in part by the slower speed in landing caused by flying into stiff winds. As a safety precaution, they decided to fly as close to the ground as possible. They were superb flyers, courageous, but never foolhardy.

A signal was again displayed to notify the men at the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station that further trials were intended. They took the machine out of the hanger, and laid the 60-foot starting track in a south-to-north direction on a smooth stretch of level ground less than 100 feet west of the hanger and more than 1,000 feet north of Kill Devil Hill. They chose this location for the trials because the ground had recently been covered with water, and because it was so level that little preparation was necessary to lay the track. Both the starting track and the machine resting on the truck faced directly into the north wind. The restraining wire was attached from the truck to the south end of the track.

Before the brothers were quite ready to fly the machine, John T. Daniels, Willie S. Dough, and Adam D. Etheridge, personnel from the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station, arrived to see the trials; with them came William C. Brinkley of Manteo, and John T. Moore, a boy from Nags Head. The right to the first trial belonged to Orville; Wilbur had used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on December 14. Orville put his camera on a tripod before climbing aboard the machine, and told Daniels to press the button when the machine had risen directly in front of the camera.

After running the engine and propellers a few minutes, the take-off attempt was ready. At 10:35 a.m., Orville lay prone on the lower wing with hips in the cradle that operated the control mechanisms. He released the restraining wire and the machine started down the 60-foot track, traveling slowly into the headwind at about 7 or 8 miles an hour--so slow that Wilbur was able to run alongside holding the right wing to balance the machine on the track. After a run of 40 feet on the track, the machine took off. When the airplane had risen about 2 feet above ground, Daniels snapped the famous photograph of the conquest of the air. The plane then climbed 10 feet into the sky, while Orville struggled with the controlling mechanisms to keep it from rising too high in such an irregular, gusty wind.

Orville sought to fly a level flight course, though buffeted by the strong headwind. However, when turning the rudder up or down, the plane turned too far either way and flew an erratic up-and-down course, first quickly rising about 10 feet, then suddenly darting close to the ground. The first successful flight ended with a sudden dart to the ground after having flown 120 feet from the take-off point in 12 seconds time at a groundspeed of 6.8 miles an hour and an airspeed of 30 miles an hour. In the words of Orville Wright:

This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first
in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had
raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed
forward without reduction of speed, and had finally landed at a point
as high as that from which it started.

Orville found that the new, almost untried, controlling mechanisms operated more powerfully than the previous controls he had used in gliders. He also learned that the front rudder was balanced too near the center. Because of its tendency to turn itself when started, the unfamiliar powered machine's front rudder turned more than was necessary.

The airplane had been slightly damaged on landing. Quick repairs were made. With the help of the onlookers, the machine was brought back to the track and prepared for a second flight. Wilbur took his turn at 11:20 a.m., and flew about 175 feet in about 12 seconds. He also flew an up-and-down course, similar to the first flight, while operating the unfamiliar controls. The speed over the ground during the second flight was slightly faster than that of the first flight because the winds were diminishing. The airplane was carried back to the starting track and prepared for a third flight.

At 11:40 a.m., Orville made the third flight, flying a steadier course than that of the two previous flights. All was going nicely when a sudden gust of wind from the side lifted the airplane higher by 12 to 15 feet, turning it sidewise in an alarming manner. With the plane flying sidewise, Orville warped the wingtips to recover lateral balance, and pointed the plane down to land as quickly as possible. The new lateral control was more effective than he had expected. The plane not only leveled off, but the wing that had been high dropped more than he had intended, and it struck the ground shortly before the plane landed. The third flight was about 200 feet in about 15 seconds.

Wilbur started on the fourth flight at noon. He flew the first few hundred feet on an up-and-down course similar to the first two flights. But after flying 300 feet from the take-off point, the airplane was brought under control. The plane flew a fairly even course for an additional 500 feet, with little undulation to disturb its level flight. While in flight about 800 feet from the take-off point, the airplane commenced pitching again, and, in one of its darts downward, struck the ground. The fourth flight measured 852 feet over the ground; the time in the air was 59 seconds.

The four successful flights made on December 17 were short because the Wrights, not desiring to fly a new machine at much height in strong winds, sometimes found it impossible to correct the up-and-down motion of the airplane before it struck the ground. Wilbur remarked:

Those who understand the real significance of the conditions under
which we worked will be surprised rather at the length than the
shortness of the flights made with an unfamiliar machine after less
than one minute's practice. The machine possesses greater capacity of
being controlled than any of our former machines.

They carried the airplane back to camp and set it up a few feet west of the hangar. While the Wrights and onlookers were discussing the flights, a sudden gust of wind struck the plane and turned it over a number of times, damaging it badly. The airplane could not be repaired in time for any more flights that year; indeed, it was never flown again. Daniels gained the dubious honor of becoming the first airplane casualty when he was slightly scratched and bruised while caught inside the machine between the wings in an attempt to stop the plane as it rolled over. Subsequent events were vivid in Daniels' mind while reminiscing of his "first--and God help me--my last flight." He relates:

I found myself caught in them wires and the machine blowing across the
beach heading for the ocean, landing first on one end and then on the
other, rolling over and over, and me getting more tangled up in it all
the time. I tell you, I was plumb scared. When the thing did stop for
half a second I nearly broke up every wire and upright getting out of
it.

Orville made this matter-of-fact entry in his diary: "After dinner we went to Kitty Hawk to send off telegram to M. W. While there we called on Capt. and Mrs. Hobbs, Dr. Cogswell and the station men." Toward evening that day Bishop Milton Wright in Dayton received the telegram from his sons:

Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty-one mile wind
started from level with engine power alone average speed through air
thirty-one miles longest 57 seconds inform press home Christmas.
Orevelle Wright.

In the transmission of the telegram, 57 seconds was incorrectly given for the 59-second record flight, and Orville's name was misspelled. The Norfolk telegraph operator leaked the news to a local paper, the _Virginian-Pilot_. The resulting story produced a series of false reports as to the length and duration of the December 17 flights. Practically none of the information contained in the telegram was used, except that the Wrights had flown.

The Bishop gave out a biographical note:

Wilbur is 36, Orville 32, and they are as inseparable as twins. For
several years they have read up on aeronautics as a physician would
read his books, and they have studied, discussed, and experimented
together. Natural workmen, they have invented, constructed, and
operated their gliders, and finally their 'Wright Flyer,' jointly, all
at their own personal expense. About equal credit is due each.

The world took little note of the Wrights' tremendous achievement and years passed before its full significance was realized. After reading the Wrights' telegram, the Associated Press representative in Dayton remarked, "Fifty-seven seconds, hey? If it had been fifty-seven minutes then it might have been a news item." Three years after the first flight an editorial appeared in the December 15, 1906, issue of the _Scientific American_, which included the following:

In all the history of invention, there is probably no parallel to the
unostentatious manner in which the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio,
ushered into the world their epoch-making invention of the first
successful aeroplane flying-machine.

Form No. 100.

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
------INCORPORATED------
23,000 OFFICES IN AMERICA. CABLE SERVICE TO ALL THE WORLD.

This Company TRANSMITS and DELIVERS messages only on conditions limiting its liability, which have been assented to by the sender of the following message.

Errors can be guarded against only by repeating a message back to the sending station for comparison, and the Company will not hold itself liable for errors or delays in transmission or delivery of Unrepeated Messages, beyond the amount of tolls paid thereon, nor in any case where the claim is not presented in writing within sixty days after the message is filed with the Company for transmission.

This is an UNREPEATED MESSAGE, and is delivered by request of the sender under the conditions named above. ROBERT C. CLOWRY, President and General Manager.

RECEIVED at

176 C KA CS 33 Paid. Via Norfolk Va
Kitty Hawk N C Dec 17
Bishop M Wright
7 Hawthorne St

Success four flights thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas.

Orevelle Wright 525P

_After the First Flight_

After 1903, the Wrights carved brilliant careers in aeronautics and helped found the aviation industry. The successful flights made at Kill Devil Hills in December 1903 encouraged them to make improvements on a new plane called Flyer No. 2. About 100 flights were flown near Dayton in 1904. These totaled only 45 minutes in the air, although they made two 5-minute flights. Experimenting chiefly with control and maneuver, many complete circuits of the small flying field were made.

A new and improved plane, Flyer No. 3, was built in 1905. On October 5 they made a record flight of 24-1/5 miles, while the plane was in the air 38 minutes and 3 seconds. The era of the airplane was well on the way. The lessons and successes at Kill Devil Hills in December 1903 were fast making the crowded skies of the Air Age possible.

Believing their invention was now perfected for practical use, the Wrights wanted the United States Government to have a world monopoly on their patents, and more important, on all the aerodynamic, design, and pilotage secrets they knew relating to the airplane. As early as 1905 they had received overtures from representatives of foreign governments. The United States Army turned down their first offers without making an effort to investigate whether the airplane had been brought to a stage of practical operation. But disbelief was on the wane. In February 1908 the United States War Department made a contract with the brothers for an airplane. Only 3 weeks later the Wrights closed a contract with a Frenchman to form a syndicate for the rights to manufacture, sell, or license the use of the Wright airplane in France.

During their Dayton experiments, the Wrights had continued to pilot their airplanes while lying prone with hips in the cradle on the lower wing. Now they adopted a different arrangement of the control levers to be used in a sitting position and added a seat for a passenger. The brothers brought their airplane to Kill Devil Hills in April 1908 to practice handling the new arrangement of the control levers. They wanted to be prepared for the public trials to be made for the United States Government, near Washington, and for the company in France.

They erected a new building at Kill Devil Hills to house the airplane and to live in, because storms the year before had nearly demolished their 1903 camp buildings. Between May 6 and May 14, 1908, the Wrights made 22 flights at their old testing grounds. On May 14 the first flight with two men aboard a plane was made near West Hill; Wilbur Wright being the pilot, and Charles Furnas, a mechanic, the passenger. Orville and Furnas then made a flight together of over 2 miles, passing between Kill Devil Hill and West Hill, and turning north near the sound to circle Little Hill before returning over the starting point close to their camp to land near West Hill on the second lap.

Byron R. Newton, a newspaper reporter, was concealed in the woods with other newsmen near camp to watch the Wrights fly. Newton predicted in his diary just after seeing his first flight: "Some day Congress will erect a monument here to these Wrights." Nineteen years later the Congress established the area as a National Memorial.

Wilbur journeyed to France after completing the tests at Kill Devil Hills, while Orville returned home to complete the construction of an airplane for the United States Government. As Wilbur set about methodically to assemble his airplane at Le Mans, some 125 miles from Paris, skeptics greeted the delay by accusing him of bluffing. But Wilbur refused to hurry. "_Le bluff continue_," cried a Paris newspaper. However, when Wilbur took off on August 8, circling the field to come in for a perfect landing, the crowd could scarcely believe its eyes. Skeptics were confounded, and enthusiasm was uproarious.

Wilbur's complete lack of conceit, together with his decency and intelligence, won from the French people a hero-worship attitude, while the press was unsparing in its praise and lamented having called him a bluffer. The _Figaro_ commented, "It was not merely a success but a triumph; a conclusive trial and a decisive victory for aviation, the news of which will revolutionize scientific circles throughout the world." It was a statement to the press by a witness, Maj. B. F. S. Baden-Powell, president of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, that is most often quoted: "That Wilbur Wright is in possession of a power which controls the fate of nations is beyond dispute." One of Wilbur's sayings in France became famous: "I know of only one bird, the parrot, that talks," he said, "and it can't fly very high."

Orville's first public flight was on September 3, 1908 at Fort Myer. He circled the field one and one-half times on the first test. "When the plane first rose," Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., recorded "the crowd's gasp of astonishment was not alone at the wonder of it, but because it was so unexpected." Orville's final flight at Fort Myer in 1908 ended in tragedy. The airplane crashed, killing Lt. Thomas Selfridge, a passenger flying with Orville. Orville suffered broken ribs, a fractured leg, and hip injuries.

In 1909, Orville completed the Government test flights by flying 10 miles in 14 minutes, or just under 43 miles an hour. The United States Army formally accepted its first airplane from the Wrights on August 2, 1909. During the same year both brothers made further flying triumphs in Europe where they became famous flying in France and Italy. While Orville was making sensational flights in Germany (as required for the formation of a Wright company in that country), Wilbur, in America, made spectacular flights at New York City where more than a million New Yorkers got their first glimpse of an airplane in the air.

Commercial companies were formed in France and Germany to manufacture Wright planes before the Wright Company was organized in the United States with Wilbur as president and Orville vice president. In financial affairs the Wrights were remarkably shrewd--a match for American and European businessmen. They grew wealthy as well as famous, but they were not happy as businessmen and looked forward to the time when they could retire to devote themselves again to scientific research.

Orville returned to Kill Devil Hills in October 1911 to experiment with an automatic control device and to make soaring flights with a glider. The new device was not tested because of the presence of newspapermen at the camp each day. Orville set a new world's soaring record of 9 minutes and 45 seconds on October 24. This remained the world's record until it was exceeded 10 years later in Germany. On May 30, 1912, Wilbur Wright, aged 45, died of typhoid fever. Orville survived him by 36 years.

_The Original Airplane Exhibited_

Orville always thought that the National Museum in Washington, administered by the Smithsonian Institution, was the logical place for the original Wright 1903 airplane to be preserved and exhibited. However, for a long time he was unwilling to entrust the airplane there because of a controversy between him and the Smithsonian in regard to the history of the invention of the airplane. In 1928, Orville lent the plane to the Science Museum at South Kensington, near London, England, with the understanding that it would stay there permanently unless he made a written request for its return. Finally, in 1942, the dispute with the Smithsonian was settled to Orville's satisfaction, and the next year he wrote a request to the Science Museum for the return of the airplane to this country when it could be safely shipped after World War II ended.

After Orville Wright's death, on January 30, 1948, his executors deposited the original 1903 airplane in the National Air Museum. It was formally placed on exhibition on December 17, 1948, in Washington, D.C., the 45th anniversary of the first flights. The priceless original airplane now occupies the highest place of honor among other interesting aeronautical exhibits.

_The National Memorial_

On March 2, 1927, the Congress authorized the establishment of Kill Devil Hills Monument National Memorial to commemorate the Wrights' achievement of the first successful flight of a man-carrying, power-driven, heavier-than-air machine. The area was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, on August 10, 1933, and on December 1, 1953, the name was changed to Wright Brothers National Memorial. The memorial contains about 425 acres. It embraces the actual site of the first four flights and the sites of most of the glider experiments.

_Guide to the Area_

VISITOR CENTER.

The visitor center represents the focal point in the interpretation of the area. In addition to an extensive series of modern museum exhibits telling the story of the memorial, the center also houses an information desk, where literature is available, and the administrative offices of the memorial. From the exhibition rooms, there is a sweeping panoramic view of the reconstructed Wright brothers' 1903 camp, the first flight grounds where markers designate the take-off and landing points of the first flights, and the Wright memorial shaft atop Kill Devil Hill.

RECONSTRUCTED WRIGHT BROTHERS' 1903 CAMP.

About 100 yards southwest of the visitor center stand two wooden structures built by the National Park Service in 1953 on the 50th anniversary of the first flight. They are reconstructions of the Wright brothers' 1903 living quarters and hangar based on historical research and photographs of the originals. The furnishings within the living quarters are of the 1902-3 period, and are almost exact duplications of those used by the Wrights.

FIRST FLIGHT GROUNDS.

Less than 100 feet west of the camp is a 10-ton granite memorial boulder placed by the National Aeronautic Association in 1928 on the 25th anniversary of the first flight. The boulder marks the take-off point of the first flight and of the three additional flights made December 17, 1903. A reconstruction of the original single-rail starting track is placed at the north and south sides of the boulder. Four numbered markers north of the boulder designate landing points of the powered flights made on December 17, 1903.

KILL DEVIL HILL.

About a quarter of a mile south of the visitor center lies Kill Devil Hill, used by the Wrights for gliding experiments during the period 1900-1903. The north slope of this hill was also used for the unsuccessful attempt at flight on December 14, 1903. Before the Wright memorial shaft was erected, conservation work was begun in 1929 on the massive 26-acre dune of shifting yellow sand to anchor the 91-foot-high dune by seeding it with special grasses adapted to sandy soil.

WRIGHT MEMORIAL SHAFT.

Atop Kill Devil Hill stands the striking Wright memorial shaft, a triangular pylon 60 feet high, made of gray granite from Mount Airy, N.C. Construction was begun February 4, 1931, and the shaft was dedicated November 19, 1932. Its sides ornamented with outspread wings in bas-relief, the pylon gives to the eye the impression of a gigantic bird about to take off into space. Stairs lead to the top of the shaft and an observation platform which offers a good view of the surrounding country--magnificent dunes, the Atlantic Ocean, Albemarle Sound, and even West Hill, a quarter of a mile west of the shaft, in the direction of the sound. West Hill, the sand dune which was the scene of many of the Wrights' gliding experiments in 1901-3, was stabilized by the National Park Service in 1934 to preserve the historic site.

_Administration_

Wright Brothers National Memorial is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. A superintendent, whose address is Kill Devil Hills, N.C., is in immediate charge.

_Glossary_

_Aileron_--A control surface set into or near the trailing edge of an
airplane wing, extending, when in the wing, toward the tip and
usually within the contour of the wing, and used to control the
longitudinal axis of an airplane.

_Airborne_--Of an airplane or other winged craft: Supported entirely by
aerodynamic forces, flying.

_Airfoil_--A surface or body, as a wing, propeller blade, rudder, or the
like, especially designed to obtain a reaction, as lift or thrust,
from the air through which it moves.

_Angle of attack_--The acute angle between the chord of an airfoil, and
a line representing the undisturbed relative airflow. Any other
acute angle between two reference lines designating the cant of an
airfoil relative to oncoming air.

_Aspect ratio_--The ratio between the span of an airfoil and its chord.

_Camber_--The curve of an airfoil section from the leading edge to the
trailing edge. Camber is usually expressed as the distance from
the chord line to the upper or lower surface of an airfoil.

_Center-of-pressure travel_--The movement, or the amount of movement, of
the center of pressure along a chord of an airfoil as the latter
is inclined through its normal angles of attack.

_Chord_--An assumed straight-line tangent to the lower surface of an
airfoil section at two points, or a straight line between the
leading and trailing edges of an airfoil section, or between the
ends of the mean line of an airfoil section; the distance between
the leading and trailing edges of an airfoil section.

_Drag_--A resistant force exerted in a direction opposite to the
direction of motion and parallel to the relative gas or air
Stream.

_Dynamic lift_--The lift given an airplane by the aerodynamic force
produced from an adequately designed airfoil.

_Glider_--A fixed-wing aircraft having no power plant and constructed so
as to glide and soar.

_Gliding_--The art, science, and activity of moving through the air in a
glider.

_Heavier-than-air aircraft_--Any aircraft weighing more than the air it
displaces.

_Lift_--That component of the total aerodynamic forces acting on an
airfoil or on an entire aircraft or winged missile, perpendicular
to the relative wind, and exerted, normally, in an upward
direction opposing the pull of gravity.

_Lighter-than-air aircraft_--An aircraft that rises and is supported in
air by virtue of a contained gas weighing less than the air
displaced by the gas.

_Nose dive_--A steep dive by, or in, an aircraft.

_Power plant_--The complete engine or engines in an aircraft, together
with propeller or propellers (if any), accessories, fuel and oil
tanks and lines, etc.

_Powered aircraft_--An aircraft having one or more engines, as
distinguished from a glider.

_Tailspin_--A spin, so named in reference to the characteristic spiral
action of the tail when the airplane is in a spin.

_Warp_--To change the shape of something, especially an airplane's wing,
by twisting. To give lift or drop to a wing by twisting it at the
ends.

_Wind tunnel_--A chamber through which air is forced at controlled
velocities, up to several thousand miles an hour, and in which
airfoils, airplanes, missiles, scale models of airplanes, or other
objects are mounted in order to observe and study the airflow
about such objects, as well as the aerodynamic effects upon them.

_Wingspan_--The span of a wing, measured or taken between the tips or
outermost extremities of either a single-piece wing or a wing that
is separated by other aircraft components.

_Wing-warping_--The action of warping a wing, or a control system for
warping the wings at will.

_Yaw_--An angular displacement or motion to the left or right about the
vertical axis of an airplane.

_Suggestions for Further Reading_

Gibbs-Smith, C. H., _A History of Flying_. Frederick A. Praeger, New
York, 1954.

Kelly, Fred C. (Ed.), _Miracle at Kitty Hawk, the Letters of Wilbur and
Orville Wright_. Farrar, Straus and Young, New York 1951.

Kelly, Fred C., _The Wright Brothers_. (A Biography Authorized by
Orville Wright.) Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1943.

McFarland, Marvin W. (Ed.), _The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright,
including the Chanute-Wright Letters and other Papers of Octave
Chanute_. 2 vols., McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1953.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1963 OF--710-606

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES

(Price has of National Park Service Publications may be obtained from
the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.)

Antietam
Aztec Ruins
Bandelier
Chalmette
Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields
Custer Battlefield
Custis-Lee Mansion, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
Fort Laramie
Fort McHenry
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Ocmulgee
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Richmond Battlefields
Saratoga
Scotts Bluff
Shiloh
Statue of Liberty
Vanderbilt Mansion
Vicksburg
Wright Brothers
Yorktown

Transcriber's Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Corrected a few palpable typographical errors.

--Transcribed some text from illustrations, for the sake of the text
versions.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.