Monument to a Century of Flight, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Took a long drive up Highway 12 from the campground to the northern end of the island to go to Walmart with stops at the Monument to a Century of Flight and the Wright Brothers Memorial. The Monument is at the Visitor Center and is dedicated to the many years we have found ways to get into the air.

December 17, 2003 marked the 100-year anniversary of the first powered, controlled, sustained flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright from the sands of what is now the town of Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Flight enthusiasts around the world joined in as the centennial was celebrated in Kill Devil Hills at the National Park Service Wright Brothers National Memorial; in Dayton, Ohio at the birthplace of Orville and Wilbur Wright; and in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at a Monument commemorating aviation's first century.

Offered by Icarus International, Inc. as an enduring legacy to the history and the beauty and mystery of flight, this public Monument recognizes significant accomplishments and milestones in aviation history and honors the soaring spirit of the men and women whose aspirations spoke, and continue to speak, so clearly of human potential. The Monument to a Century of Flight is endorsed by the U. S. Centennial of Flight Commission, the NC First Flight Centennial Commission, the First Flight Society, the Dare County Board of Commissioners, the Town of Kitty Hawk, the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, and countless aviation enthusiasts.

The pillars begin on December 17, 1903 when Orville & Wilbur Wright accomplished the word's first powered, controlled, sustained manned flight in heavier-than-air machine.

1903 - 1910

1912 - 1918

1918 - 1924

1926 - 1929

1929 - 1935

1936 - 1942

1943 - 1949

1948 - 1958

1958 - 1962

1962-1966

1968-1972

1972-1979

1981-1980's

1980-2000

High Flight was written by John G. Magee, Jr., a 19-year old American serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Britain in late 1941. He was killed that December in his Spitfire over England.