Atop Kill Devil Hill stands the striking Wright memorial shaft, a
triangular pylon 60 feet high, made of gray granite from Mount Airy,
N.C. Construction was begun February 4, 1931, and the shaft was
dedicated November 19, 1932. Its sides ornamented with outspread wings
in bas-relief, the pylon gives to the eye the impression of a gigantic
bird about to take off into space. Stairs lead to the top of the shaft
and an observation platform which offers a good view of the surrounding
country--magnificent dunes, the Atlantic Ocean, Albemarle Sound, and
even West Hill, a quarter of a mile west of the shaft, in the direction
of the sound. West Hill, the sand dune which was the scene of many of
the Wrights' gliding experiments in 1901-3, was stabilized by the
National Park Service in 1934 to preserve the historic site.
[Illustration: Aircraft over the Wright memorial shaft.]
_Administration_
Wright Brothers National Memorial is administered by the National Park
Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. A superintendent, whose
address is Kill Devil Hills, N.C., is in immediate charge.
_Glossary_
_Aileron_--A control surface set into or near the trailing edge of an
airplane wing, extending, when in the wing, toward the tip and
usually within the contour of the wing, and used to control the
longitudinal axis of an airplane.
_Airborne_--Of an airplane or other winged craft: Supported entirely by
aerodynamic forces, flying.
_Airfoil_--A surface or body, as a wing, propeller blade, rudder, or the
like, especially designed to obtain a reaction, as lift or thrust,
from the air through which it moves.
_Angle of attack_--The acute angle between the chord of an airfoil, and
a line representing the undisturbed relative airflow. Any other
acute angle between two reference lines designating the cant of an
airfoil relative to oncoming air.
_Aspect ratio_--The ratio between the span of an airfoil and its chord.
_Camber_--The curve of an airfoil section from the leading edge to the
trailing edge. Camber is usually expressed as the distance from
the chord line to the upper or lower surface of an airfoil.
_Center-of-pressure travel_--The movement, or the amount of movement, of
the center of pressure along a chord of an airfoil as the latter
is inclined through its normal angles of attack.
_Chord_--An assumed straight-line tangent to the lower surface of an
airfoil section at two points, or a straight line between the
leading and trailing edges of an airfoil section, or between the
ends of the mean line of an airfoil section; the distance between
the leading and trailing edges of an airfoil section.
_Drag_--A resistant force exerted in a direction opposite to the
direction of motion and parallel to the relative gas or air
Stream.
_Dynamic lift_--The lift given an airplane by the aerodynamic force
produced from an adequately designed airfoil.
_Glider_--A fixed-wing aircraft having no power plant and constructed so
as to glide and soar.
_Gliding_--The art, science, and activity of moving through the air in a
glider.
_Heavier-than-air aircraft_--Any aircraft weighing more than the air it
displaces.
_Lift_--That component of the total aerodynamic forces acting on an
airfoil or on an entire aircraft or winged missile, perpendicular
to the relative wind, and exerted, normally, in an upward
direction opposing the pull of gravity.
_Lighter-than-air aircraft_--An aircraft that rises and is supported in
air by virtue of a contained gas weighing less than the air
displaced by the gas.
_Nose dive_--A steep dive by, or in, an aircraft.
_Power plant_--The complete engine or engines in an aircraft, together
with propeller or propellers (if any), accessories, fuel and oil
tanks and lines, etc.
_Powered aircraft_--An aircraft having one or more engines, as
distinguished from a glider.
_Tailspin_--A spin, so named in reference to the characteristic spiral
action of the tail when the airplane is in a spin.
_Warp_--To change the shape of something, especially an airplane's wing,
by twisting. To give lift or drop to a wing by twisting it at the
ends.
_Wind tunnel_--A chamber through which air is forced at controlled
velocities, up to several thousand miles an hour, and in which
airfoils, airplanes, missiles, scale models of airplanes, or other
objects are mounted in order to observe and study the airflow
about such objects, as well as the aerodynamic effects upon them.
_Wingspan_--The span of a wing, measured or taken between the tips or
outermost extremities of either a single-piece wing or a wing that
is separated by other aircraft components.
_Wing-warping_--The action of warping a wing, or a control system for
warping the wings at will.
_Yaw_--An angular displacement or motion to the left or right about the
vertical axis of an airplane.
_Suggestions for Further Reading_
Gibbs-Smith, C. H., _A History of Flying_. Frederick A. Praeger, New
York, 1954.
Kelly, Fred C. (Ed.), _Miracle at Kitty Hawk, the Letters of Wilbur and
Orville Wright_. Farrar, Straus and Young, New York 1951.
Kelly, Fred C., _The Wright Brothers_. (A Biography Authorized by
Orville Wright.) Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1943.
McFarland, Marvin W. (Ed.), _The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright,
including the Chanute-Wright Letters and other Papers of Octave
Chanute_. 2 vols., McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1953.