Cradling Aviation

I noticed on a calendar that August 19 is Aviation Day.  Upon looking it up, I discovered this occasion celebrates the birth of Orville Wright, born on August 19, 1871, 150 years ago today, who, along with his brother, were pioneers of flight.  (Notably, August 19 is also the birthday of their younger sister Katharine, who was born 3 years after Orville in 1874.)

It's fitting that I had selected the audiobook version of David McCullough's book on the Wright Brothers, and listened to it during my recent Missouri road trip.

He did a great job sharing the story of their lives, and all their efforts to make a manned flight.  They worked their brains intensely, especially early on when they attempted to follow certain mathematical principles.  It was also incredible to hear about how arduous the journey was to the Outer Banks in North Carolina where they first tested their flying machines.  The Wright Brothers executed a true team effort with their flying machines, and even their sister Katharine offered much assistance.

But the story of their flying efforts doesn't stop with their first flights on December 17, 1903.  They built upon that first effort to create more advanced flying machines.  They eventually moved their testing efforts much closer to home at the Huffman Prairie in the Dayton area.

Government officials in the US were slow at first to embrace the Wright Brothers' early planes.  They ended up in Europe, and collaborated with foreign governments to market their planes.  Eventually, more and more people took note of their accomplishments and came to embrace the flying machines they built.

My one principal visual of the Wright Brothers is the site of their first flights.  In July 2003, while on a summer family vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I had the opportunity to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills during the Centennial Year Celebration.  We went on a ranger-guided tour who showed us the spots where the Wright Brothers made their first flights, and illuminated us with other details about how the brothers made their flyer fly.  Back in 1903, the land was mostly sand, but now, it's covered with grasses and other vegetation.  We walked up a hill where there's a tall monument to the Wright Brothers' achievement.  As part of the centennial celebration, there was a special structure in place with exhibits about flight.

They had selected the Outer Banks for their early flying test efforts because it was one of the windiest spots in the country, based on information from the Weather Bureau.  And that spot ended up as the setting for history, and all it took was 12 seconds for that flyer's first flight to lead to a revolution in our movements in the world by going above it.