First in Flight: Dec. 17 declared National Wright Brothers Day
President Joe Biden has declared Dec. 17 National Wright Brothers Day to recognize the historical event that occured118 years ago.
On Dec. 17, 1903, the winds at Kitty Hawk were high, but two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, didn’t let that stop them. Orville Wright took the 1903 Wright Flyer into the air at 10:35 a.m, with his brother, Wilbur Wright, helping to steady the wings.
A statement from the White House encourages the people of the United States to observe the day.
"Many intrepid souls had tried and failed at what the two brothers from Dayton, Ohio -- inventors, engineers, dreamers -- were able to achieve," the statement reads. "After years of designing, testing, and building the Wright Flyer in their hometown workshop, they launched it into flight from the sand dunes and wind of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on that historic day -- covering 120 feet in 12 seconds and taking humankind into a new era."
The statement also recognized Amelia Earhart's solo flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Tuskegee Airmen's defense of the country during World War II and the astronauts who have ventured to the Moon and beyond.
"America's ingenuity and innovation has continued to soar to new heights," the statement reads. "We were the first to break the sound barrier. The first to fly non-stop around the world. Today, we are developing more sustainable fuels and energy sources for the planet, technologies to coordinate increases in air traffic, and satellite systems that can clean up manmade debris in space -- and we are harnessing our resources and knowledge from decades of flight missions to take on the existential threat of climate change."
WRAL reporter Bryan Mims contributed to this report.
