One of the highlights of our trip to the outer banks was the day we spent at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. The national park includes the original takeoff spot as well as the landing spots for the four flights flown on that famous day in December 1903. The first flight was only 12 seconds long but they were 12 seconds that changed our world. The park has a fantastic Visitor Center and the Century of Flight museum. It also includes Kill Devil Hill off which the Wright Brothers did their glider experiments and on which now stands the huge memorial column to them. We spent the morning and afternoon reading the exhibits and wandering the grounds where the first flights occurred. At left is a picture representing the first flight. Above is us by a tablet with the memorial column on the hill in the background and the Century of Flight museum to the side.
Below is a picture of the original take off site and the four columns represent the landing sites for each of the first four flights. Interestingly, the park and memorial are in Kill Devil Hills not Kitty Hawk which is famous for the first flight. The only settlement in the area in 1903 was Kitty Hawk a few miles up the road so that is where the first flight is said to have occurred even though now technically the location is not a part of Kitty Hawk.
Below is a picture of the original take off site and the four columns represent the landing sites for each of the first four flights. Interestingly, the park and memorial are in Kill Devil Hills not Kitty Hawk which is famous for the first flight. The only settlement in the area in 1903 was Kitty Hawk a few miles up the road so that is where the first flight is said to have occurred even though now technically the location is not a part of Kitty Hawk.
