Kitty Hawk: 1901

I visited Kitty Hawk in the early 1970s. There wasn't much there but acres of sand, sea grass, a wide and endless beach, tremendous wind, a rough green ocean, and a small leaning shed. We were able to go up and touch the shed. It wasn't hard to imagine the two men working inside full of optimism and excitement. We half expected to see them walking up the beach, or come flying in for a landing. It was very exciting to stand on the same sand they flew over. I believe the site has been preserved more formally since we were there. Also when young, my mother and I took the city bus into downtown Dayton. Our bus drove past the little Wright Brothers shop. My mom always pointed it out to me. I feel fortunate to have seen both important places.

The Wright Brothers were interested in the dunes as hills from which to launch their gliders and later their powered airplane, but their biggest interest was the winds which are steady and consistent. It's ideal for the sort of large kites they were testing with initially and then for the gliders. For similar reasons Bell used his summer home at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, for his early aeronautical experiments.

This is the only picture I've ever seen that shows the Kitty Hawk dunes to good advantage. Now we know why they chose that location for their tests.

I think I have read every book written about the Wright Bros. but I do not remember seeing this photo. I was sure he was flying before I read the caption!