First Flight, Big Kill Devil Hill, and Centennial Sculpture - Wright Brothers National Memorial

We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial in early October 2015. After touring the visitor center, we went outside to the open field where the first controlled, powered flight took place. In 1903, the field and dunes were sand, but grass and other vegetation has been planted over the years to stabilize the area for future generations. While a major highway skirts the edge of the memorial today, in the early 1900s it was several miles from the site to the nearest house and road across the dunes. Wilber, Orville and a small group of local men set up camp on the dunes and tested gliders by carrying them up the slopes of Kill Devil Hill dune and gliding down to the relatively flat sandy area to the north of the dune.

The first four powered flights were all conducted on December 17, 1903. A wind gust flipped the Flyer after the fourth flight, destroying the engine and damaging the Wright Flyer I.

A sixty foot high memorial atop the 90 foot high Kill Devil Hill was dedicated in 1932. Around its base is this inscription:

In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.

Replica workshop and hangar

Historical marker below Kill Devil Hill

Twenty-fifth anniversary plaque at the takeoff location

Flight distance markers

Looking back from the end of the fourth flight

Wright Brothers Monument

Looking south from Kill Devil Hill

Looking east to the Atlantic Ocean

Hangar, workshop and visitor center from atop Kill Devil Hill

First Flight Centennial sculpture from atop Kill Devil Hill

Centennial sculpture from the parking area

Wilbur at the controls

Orville helped balance the plane on the rail

The sculpture recreates the historic photograph taken by John T Daniels

Another view of Orville

A closer view of Wilbu

An entry fee of $7 per person is good for seven consecutive days. Other fee payment options include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The Memorial website is http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm.

Visitor Center Museum and Flight Room - Wright Brothers National Memorial

We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial in early October 2015. The memorial marks the location of the first powered flight on December 17, 1903 as well as the large sand dune utilized for glider testing in previous years. The visitor center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001 and houses an information desk, museum, gift shop and restrooms.

Visitor Center

Information about the 1902 glider

A small wind tunnel was used to test wing designs

Wind tunnel

Charles Taylor designed and built this 3-cylinder engine in six weeks

Images of the historic day

Replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer I

Another view of the replica Flyer showing the engine and chain drive

Another view of the Flyer

Replica of the 1902 glider

An entry fee of $7 per person is good for seven consecutive days. Other fee payment options include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The Memorial website is http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm.

March Field Air Museum

Continuing our February 2015 trip to southern California, we went with to the March Field Air Museum at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County. My uncle, Ed, was once stationed at the base and he accompanied us to the museum along with my cousin, Scott, and his wife, Carita. In the Heritage Courtyard is the Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial shown above. Unlike most national memorials that are entrusted to the National Park Service, this memorial site is administered by the museum. The museum has enough exhibits to keep an avid military aviation fan content for hours, if not days.

The inscription reads:

We Remember

1st Lt. Joseph Howard Burton, Jr.

In February 1945 Lt. Burton was the aircraft commander of a B-24 Bomber which was on a training mission out of Langley Field, Virginia.

On returning home after completing the mission the aircraft experienced fuel problems. Engine number one and engine number two lost power. The command was given to bail out. Then engine number 3 quit. The co-pilot was told to bail out after the rest of the crew was safely out of the aircraft. The aircraft continued to lose altitude fast. Lt. Burton then attempted to bail out at an extremely low altitude. On hitting the water, he became entangled in the parachute harness and drowned.

This wall is dedicated as a tribute to Lt. Burton and all those other unsung heroes who perished while training for combat.

The inscription reads:

The Airplanes

Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis is a custome-built single engine, single seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20-21, 1927 on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize. Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt Airfield, Garden City (Long Island), New York and landed 33 hours, 30 minutes later at Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris France.

Manufactred by Ryan Airlines, San Diego, Ca it is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum

Loening OA-1A

The Pan American flyers flew the Loening OA-1A amphibians which had features of both a landplane and a seaplane by combining the fuselage and hull into a single structure. To allow the propeller to clear the hull, their specially modified Liberty engines were mounted upside down. The OA-1A had a wood interior structure with an aluminum covered fuselage and fabric covered wings. On Dec. 21, 1926 five Pan American aircraft took off from Kelly Field in Texaas to begin the 21,000 mile flight. About halfway through their planned flight as the formation descended into Balomar near Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Detroit accidentally drifted into the New York. Major Dargue and Lt Whitehead parachuted to safety. Capt. Woolsey chose to stay with the helpless Lt.Benton who was on the wing attempting to force their landing gear down. Both perished when both aircraft crashed.

The San Francisco was the only aircraft to complete the entire journey. All flyers received a DFC certificate while their Medals were being made. Charles Lindbergh received the first Medal.

The San Francisco is also preserved at the National Air and Space Museum.

Lt. Gen. James. H. Doolittle
First Commander Fifteenth Air Force

Lockheed C-141B Starlifter

Convair C-131D Samaritan with Cessna T-37 Tweety Bird and Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star

Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker with North American CT-39A Sabreliner

Another view of the KC-135A and the CT-39A

Boeing B-52D being restored

McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II

Republic F-105D Thunderchief

Boeing KC-97L

Martin EB-57B Canberra on left, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle on right
and Grumman HU-16E Albatross in the rear

Boeing B-47E Stratojet

Lockeed SR-71A Blackbird

Admission to the museum is $10 for ages 12 and up and $5 for ages 5-11. Active duty military and reserves are admitted free with a DOD ID card. The museum is closed on Mondays.

The museum website is http://www.marchfield.org/.

De Soto National Memorial

The final stop on our mid-February, 2013, Florida trip was the De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton near the mouth of the Manatee River.  A stone marker commemorating the landing was placed at this location in 1939.  While not claiming the exact landing location, the marker states:

Near here Hernando De Soto with his men landed  May 30, 1539 and began his march westward to the Mississippi River.  This marker commemorates the 400^th anniversary of his arrival on the shores of Florida.

The national memorial was established on March 11, 1948.  The actual landing site for the 1539 expedition has not been found.  According to The Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission published in 1939, the landing was in Tampa Bay.  However, scholarly review of historical records since then has pointed to other potential landing locations, possibly as far south as Charlotte Harbor at the mouth of the Peace River.  

As a veteran conquistador of the Inca campaigns, De Soto was already immensely wealthy.  However, he had heard rumors of gold in North America and set out to find it.  He led an army of over 620 men and 220 horses as well as dozens of war dogs and a herd of pigs.  He utilized the same ruthless methods that had worked in Peru with the natives in Florida and throughout his four year expedition.  These included holding the tribal chief captive until a ransom was paid, but since the natives did not have any gold the chief was often killed.  Natives that were captured were put in chains and used to haul all manner of cargo.  The natives that converted to Catholicism faced somewhat better circumstances, but were exposed to European diseases that wiped out 90 to 95% of the indigenous people in what is now the southeastern United States over the next 150 years.

Depending on how the various journals are interpreted, De Soto marched at least as far north as North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas and, after his death near the Mississippi River, his men marched as far west as Texas.  The expedition was considered a failure by Spain because no gold was found.

There is no entrance fee to visit the memorial, which is open to foot traffic from dawn to dusk.  The parking area and visitor center are open from 9 AM until 5 PM.  The visitor center contains restrooms, an exhibit area, bookstore, information counter and theater.  The exhibits do a good job of interpreting the expedition to modern visitors.  The portion of the movie that was presented was excellent, but it was stopped due to what was described as "technical issues".  Since the movie was still showing at 4:30 when the lights came on and the screen retracted, we believe that a volunteer or ranger was just a bit too eager to make sure everyone was out of the parking lot by 5 PM.  Outside exhibits include a replica village and several interpretive signs.

Visitor Center and Spanish boat

A portion of Camp Uzita

More of Camp Uzita under Spanish moss

Native hut and log canoe

Gumbo Limbo tree

View across the Manatee River toward Emerson Point and Tampa Bay

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/deso/index.htm.