Wright Brothers

Today we went to the Wright Brothers National Monument that is in Kill Devils, North Carolina.  It is in the northern part of the Outer Banks, near Kitty Hawk.  With this visit we finish our tour of the Wright brothers sites.  It all started over 20 years ago with a visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. where we saw the original aircraft flown by the Wright brothers.

As our daughter Kelly lives near Dayton, Ohio we went to the various historical sites that are associated with the Wright brothers.  They lived and worked in Dayton, tested and built their airplane here.

Lastly, today we went to the place where they actually flew the aircraft and were successful. It is a great place to visit.  They have markers indicating the four flights made, restored hanger and living quarters, a very nice visitor’s center, an exhibit hall, a great sculpture depicting the actual first flight and the monument dedicated to their achievement.

This is the field where the flight happened.  The buildings are the restored living quarters and hanger.  In the background is where they flew with markers indicating the distance of the four flights.

Looking down the flight path.  At the bottom of the picture is the start of the rail that the plane was balanced on.  The granite marker indicates where the plane left the ground.

The marker

The monument on top of the sand dune.

Fran having some fun at the monument!

There is a sculpture depicting the actual event, from the plane to the people who were there.