Back in late April, Dan and I, with Gloria and Michiko, made the pilgrimage to Kitty Hawk, NC to pay homage to the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, who made the first controlled, powered and sustained, heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. The trip was one of our typical ones—a day spent relishing flying with great friends. The fact that it was to visit where powered flight had started was almost ancillary to the deal!
In preparation for the flight, I had taken a couple of old sectional charts and laid out our route of flight with a highlighted line. (Essentially it was Bridgeport to the Deer Park VOR on Long Island, then Victor 1 south directly to Norfolk, VA, then Elizabeth City, NC and then direct to Kitty Hawk. I had also pored over the charts to list (somewhat) interesting landmarks that Michiko and Gloria could watch for during our journey, in case they got bored during the 2.5 hour flight.
After I took some good natured ribbing for my landmark list, Michiko and Gloria actually had fun trying it as we launched out of Bridgeport into a beautiful sky, southbound for Long Island on our instrument flight plan. Hitting the Deer Park VOR, about halfway between Islip and Farmingdale airports, we turned southwest onto Victor 1, soaring directly over the top of JFK, watching the heavy iron arriving and departing below and around us. On a couple of occasions we heard ATC telling airliners climbing steeply out of JFK to watch for our little Comanche.
We worked our way south through NJ, paralleling the shoreline as we flew over Lakehurst, past Atlantic City and then directly over Bayside State Prison, indicated on the sectional chart just before hitting the Delaware Bay. Continuing south, we overflew the other Ocean City airport (the one in MD’s Eastern Shore) and paralleled a large restricted area over the Chesapeake Bay, just east of Pax River Naval Air Station.
Pax River was hosting Air Expo ’09, their big base air show, on the day of our flight. The show included the Navy’s Blue Angels, the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team. And while it wasn’t listed on the day’s program of flying demos, a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber made at least one fly-by of the airshow. We know, because we saw it. Dan called out the black bomber as it banked right and turned towards Pax River, descending ahead and below us over the Chesapeake. It’s got to be a fairly rare sight, as there are only about 20 of them flying—wouldn’t it be ironic if it was the one named the Spirit of Kitty Hawk?
A little further south, we flew right over Parksley, VA, where CAP had a coastal patrol base during World War II. Base 4 was established and commanded by Maj. Isaac “Tubby” Burnham, II (later of Drexel Burnham fame). Burnham had gained experience with CAP’s coastal patrol bases while operating from the first such base, at the old airport at Atlantic City, NJ. As the number of bases expanded from the original three, Burnham was tapped to launch Base 4. (Side note: A few years ago, I had the privilege to meet with Burnham’s son, who graciously provided access to some of his father’s papers, including some original memos he had written about the base and its operations.)
As we neared the end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, ATC cleared us direct to KFFA, First Flight Airport, cutting out a little dogleg that was in our flight plan. We quickly chatted what we wanted to do and decided on a fuel stop and lunch at Dare County Regional Airport (KMQI) before visiting FFA. Dare County is only a couple of minutes south of FFA, so it wasn’t a big detour.
At Dare County, a very helpful FBO took care of us quickly, lining up fuel and a crew car to borrow. While we stretched our legs and took care of some things, I found the little CAP museum in the main FBO building. Dare County Regional, near the northern tip of Roanoke Island, was originally built as Manteo Naval Air Station, and also hosted a CAP coastal patrol base (#16). The museum is amazing and truly worth a visit if you’re flying in the area. They have tons of photos, uniforms and other memorabilia, including copies of the base logs that one can read through. I’ll definitely be back!
After a quick lunch in town, we jumped back in the Comanche and made the very brief hop back to KFFA, circling the airport to land on runway 20. Taxiing into the small ramp area, we tied down and registered at the little AOPA flight shack. The ramp has a great view of the large stone monument up on the hill and we headed up there first.
The Wright Brothers National Monument is a great visit to make. In addition to the hilltop monument with sweeping wings etched in the stone, there is a pathway marked with stones demonstrating the three flights the brothers made on December 17, 1903 so that people can get a sense of the distance and duration of each flight. There are also two large display buildings holding various artifacts, including test engines, propellers, wind tunnels and other items.
Despite all the people visiting the memorial, it was peaceful enough that one could think for a few minutes of what these two crazy brothers had accomplished, in the face of amazing odds, because of a desire to fly that burned in their souls. Looking at the displays, you realize how much scientific thought and sheer effort that they put into the planning, the experiments and their genius and artistry at problem solving. Because of them, Dan and I were able, a mere 105 years later, to fly a small airplane into Kitty Hawk ourselves, to celebrate their accomplishment.
The trip back was anti-climatic—just basking in a beautiful sunset and talk among good friends. We flew back north on exactly the same route we had come south in the morning.
NOTE: Somewhere along the flight, we heard a corporate jet on the radio for a while. The pilot, definitely British, sounded EXACTLY like Cary Grant, one of my wife’s favorite actors. Every time this guy gave his call sign, which ended in “Hotel Bravo,” I just had a vision of Cary Grant tooling around the sky.
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