The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-10-16
WORLD AVIATION NOTABLES
PAY TRIBUTE TO WRIGHTS
IN DARE COUNTY TUESDAY
Big Names in Aviation Land at Manteo Air
port and Visit Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil
Hills; Admiral Byrd, Messerschmitt, Sikor-
ski Among Visitors
BY ROBERT C. SMITH
Virginian-Pilot Staff Writer

helped implement the bold
dream of two Ohio Bicycle manu-
facturers gathered at Kitty Hawk
Tuesday, in year marking the
oOth anniversary of mans con-
quest of the air.
Appropriately, for visit to the
Wright Brothers Memorial, the
aviation pioneers" flew the
nearly 200 air miles from Wash
ington, where they were holding
a 3-day get-together, to Manteo
in modern DEB transport planes
to get to the spot where Orville
Wright flew 100 feet in machine
driven by 12-horsepower motor.
All planes landed at the Man
teo Airport. With the party were
many Washington newspaper
men.
Present were many of the
names bridging the half-century
span between the brothers first
limping flight and today's jet
propulsion - Sikorsky, Messer-
schmitt, Roe, Schlichting. Also
present was the man who realiz-
ed the great exploratory potential
of the airplane - Admiral Rich>
ard E. Byrd.
Near the conclusion of the
tour, the distinguished guests, re
presenting 10 countries, tramped
to the top of Kill Devil Hill to
view the National Memorial mon
ument to the Wrights erected
near the place where the historic
flight of December II, 1903, be-
gan.
They clustered to converse
quietly or struggled up the hill
alone as the wind whipped
around them. Many wandered
about the monument platform,
gazing out at the scar land on
which the brothers set up their
camp site.
Each seemed occupied by his
own thoughts at the site of the
beginning of the history of avia-
tion-to which each had given so
much of his own life.
Great Men Impressed
1T is a beautiful monument;
said Russian-born Igor Sikorsky,
the manufacturer of the shelicop-
ter which was used earlier in the
wild country where the Wrights
performed their 1901-02 glider
experiments. at is so simple, so
dignified. always love to see
it."
Later Doctor Willy Messersch-
mitt, Germany's best known ID
signer and manufacturer of fight
er aircraft, echoed Sikorsky's SEN
timents. st is one of the finest
days of my life, seeing this mem
orial" he said.
But before the visit to the hill,
the visitorS-many of whom had
never seen the area where Will
bur and Orville Wright cast their
names into history-visited the
site of the house of w. ]. Tate
where the brothers lived during
the days of their experiments.
Then two helicopters carried
them, four at time, over the
early camp site, newly marked
by tall American flag visible
from the other points of histori-
cal significance. According to
Capt. David MacDermott, in
charge of the Coast Guard Air
Station at Elizabeth City, Sikor
sky, himself, piloted the helicop-
ter IN which he was flying.
SikorskY at Controls
He took over a little while
after we got up" MacDermott
said. The sharp-eyed Sikorsky,
with a smile, later commented
that he believed it was Wilbur
Wright who once told him that
helicopters would never be sue
cessful
The pioneers who were begin
ming three-day meeting with
their pilgrimage to Kitty Hawk
took off for a return flight to
Washington after a luncheon at
the Carolinian Hotel. They
lunched with President Eisen-
hover Wednesday.
Aviation leaders from Belgium
France, England, Brazil, Portu-
gal, Canada, Mexico, and the
United States made up the tour
which was sponsored by the Air
Force Association and the Kill
Devil Hills Memorial Society.
Ceremonies attending the tour
were conducted with complete
informally. DR.. John F. Victory.
of the National Aeronautics Asso-
citation, served as master of cere-
monies at the various points of
Co. MON wrex -