On December 17 at 8:30 a.m., the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC, in partnership with Dare County Schools, First Flight Society and Outer Banks Forever will mark the 122nd anniversary of the world’s first powered flight. Admission to the park will be free for the day.
If you have never visited this historic site, this might be an excellent time to do it. Think about what happened here back in 1903, and that less than seven decades later flight had advanced to where another historic flying machine flew men to the Moon and back.
The event will include a ceremony, the induction of William P. Lear — founder of Learjet — into the First Flight Society’s Paul E. Garber Shrine, and the unveiling of a student-built airplane by high schoolers from First Flight High School. The aircraft, constructed on site beginning in 2023 as part of the school’s Aviation Program, represents the second airplane ever built on this historic ground.
A wreath-laying will honor descendants of the witnesses of the original 1903 flights, timed to the exact moment — 10:35 a.m. — when Orville Wright first lifted off.
Additional activities will include demonstrations with a replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer, ranger-led educational programs, and a free Junior Ranger program. The park will remain open until 5 p.m.
This year’s celebration invites visitors of all ages to join in commemorating the breakthrough by two bicycle mechanics that launched powered human flight — and to witness a new generation carrying forward the legacy of innovation.
If you’d like to arrive to the celebration in the most appropriate fashion, fly in with your small private airplane. The runway is just a baseball throw away from where the Wrights made their historic fights.
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