Kitty Hawk Remembered….
The lessons of the Wright Brothers

It was a spectacular birthday party. The one hundredth anniversary of controllable powered human flight. A weeklong tribute to the brothers Wright whose years of effort were rewarded in 1903 with a 12 second 1209 foot flight.  

The celebration was to be completed with a recreation of the 1903 flight exactly 100 years later at 10:35 am on the 17th of December 2003. And that is where it all went wrong.

The Wrights had no fixed notion of the time and date. True they were getting anxious about getting home for Christmas, but there would be no attempt at flight until there was a steady wind of at least 20 miles per hour.  

So on the morning of the December 17, 1903, they hung out the red flag to summon the men of the lifesaving station for another attempt. An earlier trial on the 14th was marred by mechanical problems and a crash, which they repaired during the next two days. The homemade 12 horsepower engine propelled the flyer down the rail for its brief liftoff and flight. The rest is history.   

The replica flyer of 2003 was an attempt to exactly reproduce the original machine. Spending 1.2 million dollars, the replica was exact down to the thread count of the linen covering on the wings. What was built was an underpowered, badly balanced, flying machine that had to depend upon a stiff wind to get it airborne. 

The morning of the flight in 2003 began with a torrential downpour. 30,000 rain soaked spectators overlooked a field of puddles and mud where the flight was to take place. By 10:00 am the President of the United States arrived in a flurry of helicopters to witness the event. When it became obvious that the rain would continue President Bush waved to the crowd and returned to the waiting helicopters. About 20 minutes later Air Force One come out of the overcast at about 500 feet, dipped its wing to the crowd and disappeared into the murk.  

By noon the rain had tapered to a heavy mist and they announced that an attempt to recreate the flight would be made. Everything was against a successful flight. The linen wings were heavy with accumulated moisture. The 100% humidity made the engine run at less than it's 12 horsepower. But, most of all, the wind had dropped to less than five miles an hour. The flight was doomed from the start. After several attempts the engine started. With a cheer the fragile craft rode down the rail. With the end in sight the pilot tried to use the forward elevator to launch into flight. With a little hop the craft went awkwardly into a puddle and the show was over. 

Surely Wilber and Orville's lesson went unheeded. Aviation is the most weather dependant form of transportation we have. If the conditions aren't right…. don't go. 

But none of this spoiled aviation's 100th birthday. For three days a crowd of aviation enthusiasts toured exhibits, admired aircraft on static display, and had a helluva good time. There were spectacular flybys. There was the U-2 spy plane, the Osprey Tilt Rotor, the B-2 Stealth bomber, and almost every other modern aircraft. 

There were personal appearances by many of Aviation's heroes: Armstrong and Aldrin, the first men on the moon; Chuck Yeager, who first broke the sound barrier; and, John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth; One of our most moving encounters with aviation heroes happen at our hotel. There were about a dozen frail ladies in there 80's. They all wore the distinctive blue scarves, which identified them as former WASP's. They were there as distinguished guests of the centennial commission. These were women pilots who delivered American combat aircraft from the factories to our bases all over the world. These gentle looking ladies had flown the hottest aircraft of WWII. Their efforts released hundreds of pilots from routine flying for active combat duty.

Aviation has been the defining technology of the twentieth century. In the span of a lifetime, 66 years, we went from Kitty Hawk to the moon. What happened one hundred years ago on that sandy beach in North Carolina has profoundly touched our lives in so many ways. One hundred year ago two determined men changed the course of history. This event memorialized their achievement. 

Dale Hall, IFFR Americas Section Chair for the South East region did an outstanding job of organization. Over a year earlier he gave us all a "heads up" for this event. He arranged a dinner dance and social at the local country club. He hired a twelve-passenger van and provided needed transport. He was invaluable in making this one of our most successful North American IFFR Americas events.  

In the confusion of the last year, I missed the word that tickets from the Park Service were required for the fly-off on the 17th. By the time I realized my mistake all the tickets were gone. How would we ever get in for the climactic event? There had to be a way. So…Doris and I applied for media credentials from our local paper, the Block Island Times. 

The final chapter of the story is how we came to Kitty Hawk as media representatives. The Block Island Times is the newspaper of the smallest town in the nations smallest state. More than once we heard the question "where the hell is Block Island". I asked Bruce Montgomery, the publisher of the paper (and cartoonist and janitor) if he would sponsor us. The idea was so ludicrous that he immediately filled out the media applications and wrote a letter of reference to the credential committee. It worked like a charm.  

I now have the greatest respect for the power of the press…mostly for the privileges that came with a media badge. While most folks stood in the rain to pass thru security, there was a much shorter and more efficient entrance for media. The crowd stood in the rain without a lot of information while we in the "media" had a dry press building with large TV monitors and constant briefings by the celebrations participants. The crowd stood in line for hours for soggy pizza or undercooked hotdogs. The media had hot coffee and lunch courtesy of the Centennial Committee. 

The greatest perk, according to my senior photographer, Doris, was a media toilet trailer rather that the Port-A Potties used by the crowd.  

I now know what it is to be a member of the "Fourth Estate". We even took part in a media feeding frenzy. That is when the caterer came in with the lunch trays: cold cuts, shrimp salad and tuna fish salad…decisions, decisions, decisions.

Herman Hassinger

Editor's note- To Quote Will Rogers: 

Some people learn by reading books

Some people learn by observation