The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-12-11

the time he introduced the bill providing
for the Wright Memorial.
There is a bill now pending on
the calendar which was intro
duced in the Senate by Senator
Hiram Bingham, of Connecticut,
and in the House by me- 1t passed
the Senate by a unanimous vote,
and its passage by this body will
mark another step on the part of
Congress in recognizing and per-
petuating the history and exploits
of the Nation l am very grateful
to the distinguished Senator
from Connecticut for his interest
in this measure and for his in
sistence that the commemoration
of the act should be where it
occurred. Himself a noted aviator
in the World War, it is fitting
that his name should be associat-
ed with a measure to hail the
birth of aviation.
The bill provides that there
shall be erected on Kill Devil
Hill, at Kitty Hawk, in the State
of North Carolina, a monument
in commemoration of the first
successful attempt in all history
at power driven airplane flight,
achieved by Orville Wright on
December II, 1908. 1t calls for a
commission composed of the
Secretaries of War, Navy, and
Commerce to superintend the err
.ection of the memorial and to
make arrangements for its un-
yelling and dedication, and it
provides that the design and
plans shall be subject to the APP
proval of the Commission of
Fine Arts and the Joint Com
mittee on the Library. After this
commission has reported Sena-
tor Bingham and I will press for
a sufficient appropriation to
Carry their recommendations into
/ trust that the plans will
something grand and
%~'" which will worthily mark
public recognition of what
the achievement signified.
The Inspiration of The Wrights
Many years ago Capt. Thomas
Baldwin, of dirigible fame, said:
eff it wasn't for the Wrights we
wouldn't be flying today" Or
vile and Wilbur Wright have
taken such an immortal place in
the history of inventions and of
civilization that everything about
them will always have a historic
Importance. They were sons of a
scholarly teacher, who was also
a bishop of the United Brethren
Church. Their mother died dur
ing their early boyhood. In their
youth they were no different
from the average boy of their
native city of Dayton; Ohio. They
fished and hunted and engaged
in athletic contests and impressed
their associates as clean, manly
fellows. They did not go to col
lege, but their home was supplied
with the stimulating atmosphere
of books, including numerous
works on science. They best ex-
planned their interest in flying in
a brief account of their invention
which they wrote in the Century
of September, 1908:
Late in the autumn of 1873
Wilbur was then II and Orville
z years of age-our father came
into the house one evening with
some object concealed in his
hands, and, before we could see
what it was, tossed it into the
air. Instead of falling to the floor,
as we expected, it flew across the
room and struck the ceiling,
where it fluttered while and fl
nally sank to the floor. 1t was a
little toy known to scientists as
a helicopter, but which we, with
sublime disregard for science,
dubbed a "bat" 1t lasted
only a short time, but its mem
DRY was abiding. Il
The Selection of Kitty Hawk
From then ON their interest in
flying never waned, but it was
not until 1896, when they read
the papers of the death OF
Lilienthal, who was killed
!. - fall from one of his gliders
At they gave the subject of fly
ing intensive study. at made us
wonder" said Wilbur Wright
"what the difficulties were that
could not be overcome" Finally
in 1900 they decided to try glider
experiments themselves, and they
left Dayton for Kill Devil Hill at
Kitty Hawk, Dare County, on the
coast of North Carolina. They
settled within few miles of that
spot where Sir Walter Raleigh
planted his first colony and
where Virginia Dare, the first
child of English parentage to be
born on the American Continent
first saw the light of day. It was