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'north carolina ~ North Carolina Wright Brothers Testing Ground ~'

By: Fleur Paipa

"..... In order to fly the plane, the pilot must lay flat on his stomach to steer the controls..........north carolina,,Airlines,adventure,getaways,family,travel,vacation....."
North Carolina is the state where the Wright brothers took their first famous airplane flight. Though Orville and Wilbur Wright lived in Ohio, they decided to take their flight trials down south in the sandy hills of a small town called Kitty Hawk which is located on the chain of Barrier Islands known as the Outer Banks.

The Wright brothers owned a bicycle shop in the town of Dayton, Ohio when the notion struck them to develop a flying machine. After a great many designs and problems, the duo completed their famous “Wright Flyer” using wood, metal, and canvas stretched across the wings. In order to fly the plane, the pilot must lay flat on his stomach to steer the controls.

Building a newfangled flying contraption was quite strenuous and time consuming, taking the Wright brothers from approximately 1899 until 1903 to figure out the proper aerodynamics necessary to create an airplane. Even after their historic flight, the brothers kept working on the design until 1905, when the pair created the first practical airplane. Building these monsters was certainly a family affair, as the Wright sister helped the boys sew and stretch the canvas across the wing‘s fame.

The Wright brothers actually made several trips to Kitty Hawk even before the completion of the Wright Flyer. In 1900, Orville and Wilbur made the trip to the North Carolina coast to test gliders in order to better understand aerodynamics. When they made their historic trip in 1903, the duo left in September with Flyer in tow. By this time, they were well acquainted with the area and the people, often recruiting locals to help them haul and repair the Flyer.

This flying machine was considerably heavier than the earlier models of the Wright flyers. It was 125 pounds heavier than what the brothers actually wanted it to be. Because of its weight, the plane could not be launched like the earlier versions and required the building of a 15-foot launching rail to catapult it on its trajectory. They jokingly called it 'Grand Junction Railroad'.

The brothers then had to postpone their regular tests because of the inclement weather in the late fall and early winter of 1903. This lead them to doubt whether they will at all be able to achieve their intended test flight that year. Things however changed for the better soon, enabling Wright brothers to start testing again and take their historic flight.

On December 17th, 1903 the Wright brothers made history when their Flyer took off into the air. Orville piloted the first ever flight after a quick coin toss. He climbed into the controls and took off at 10:35 in the morning. The plane soared into the North Carolina sky for a whole 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet long. But that was the beginning of a new age giving a new meaning to speed.

The brothers made three more flights after their maiden flight. Wilbur took credit for the longest flight, he flew for 59 minutes and covered 852 feet. The State of Carolina witnessed this historic feet on a cold December day. A monument was constructed on top of a hill called Devil Hill, North Carolina to honor this miraculous feet of engineering and the willpower of man.

"..... But that was the beginning of a new age giving a new meaning to speed....."

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Fleur Paipa is the owner of F north carolina, the #1 source on the internet for information about north carolina, For questions or comments about this article visit: www.fyinorthcarolina.com/articles
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