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The first successful sustained powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine
were made here by Wilbur and Orville Wright on December 17, 1903. A 60-foot
granite monument dedicated in 1932, is perched atop 90-foot tall Kill Devil
Hill commemorating the achievement of these two visionaries from Dayton,
Ohio.
A visit should include touring the museum exhibits, participating in a ranger
conducted program, touring the reconstructed camp buildings and first flight
trail area, and a climb up Kill Devil Hill to view the memorial pylon.
Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills are American place names that will live
in history. Here Wilbur and Orville Wright, two unassuming brothers with
a passion for advancing aeronautical knowledge, and the willingness to undertake
a scientific adventure, made the world's first successful flight of a man-carrying,
power-driven, heavier-than-air machine. December 17, 1903, was the day man
first flew in this machine. It was a cold and windy day when Orville Wright
climbed aboard their plane at 10:35 a.m. His first power-driven flight of
120 feet lasted just 12 seconds when he flew over a wind-swept stretch of
level sand now preserved at Wright Brothers National Memorial. From those
moments the science of aeronautics has borne the impress of the Wright's'
achievements.
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