Society News

/Society News
7 06, 2019

Wright Brothers National Memorial celebrates 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 moon landing, July 18-20

Wright Brothers National Memorial, in partnership with Outer Banks Forever, First Flight Foundation, and First Flight Society, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a series of events from July 18-20.

The anniversary weekend launches the evening of July 18th with a special space-themed movie showing at Dowdy Park in Nags Head, sponsored by the First Flight Foundation. Special space-themed ranger-programs will take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

On July 20th, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the public is invited to watch a special rebroadcast of the news coverage of the original lunar landing outside the visitor center. Some visitors may remember that 50 years ago, on the evening of July 20, 1969, Wright Brothers National Memorial hosted a live […]

13 05, 2019

Colonel Gail Halvorsen will be the 2019 Paul E Garber Shrine Honoree.

The 116th Anniversary of Powered Flight Event on December 17, 2019 will induct Col. Gail Halvorsen, USAF (Ret), the “Candy Bomber”, as a representative of the crews that flew the mission, and the Berlin Airlift (June 27, 1948 to May 12, 1949) on this 70th Anniversary of the completion of the great humanitarian event into the Dr. Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine. The event will include having the Berlin Airlift Foundation C-54 and a C-47 on display to represent the “workhorses” of the airlift, and a flyover, all dependent on maintenance and weather. The event at the Wright Brothers National Memorial is free and open to the public. More details here as we solidify the program.

16 04, 2019

Happy Birthday Wilbur Wright!

Today is Wilbur Wright’s 152nd birthday. Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867 near Millville, Indiana. Wilbur was an inventor and his nickname was “Father of Modern Aviation”. Wilbur’s brother Orville was his playmate, co-inventor and business partner throughout his life. Wilbur and Orville lived in Dayton, Ohio most of their lives, but their most famous feat took place at Kill Devil Hill in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Wright Brothers had their first successful airplane flight on December 17, 1903. Their Wright Flyer was the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained manned flight.

Happy Birthday Wilbur!

11 04, 2019

FFS Golf Tournament on Saturday, May 4th!

FIRST FLIGHT SOCIETY ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

 

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2019

SEA SCAPE GOLF LINKS KITTY HAWK, NC

$75/PLAYER / $300 PER 4-MAN TEAM

           Green Fees – Cart – Meal – Prizes
     CAPTAIN’S CHOICE
       4-PLAYER SCRAMBLE

 

Registration:  B.J. Gourley, First Flight Society – 252.441.1903

Questions:  Charlie Davidson – 252.548.9141

 

Registration and More information on our FFS Golf Tournament event page

25 03, 2019

Why Should You Donate to FFS?

Donate.

You see this almost every day from one organization or another. You get telephone calls. You get letters. You see it on television. You hear it on the radio.

Like most non profits we rely on donations and memberships from people just like you to keep our group alive. Your next question is probably, “Why should I donate to the First Flight Society?” What do they actually do?

Did you know that If it wasn’t for the First Flight Society there wouldn’t even be a Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina? Under the name Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association, a group of local businessmen petitioned the US Congress to Fund and build a monument to the Wright Brothers’ achievement of 1903.

Though primarily known as the group that puts on the annual celebration at the Wright Brothers National Memorial every December 17th, that is not all that we […]

5 12, 2018

FFS Honoring Katherine Johnson on the 115th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers First Flight.

The 115th Anniversary of the accomplishment of manned powered flight by the Brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, will be celebrated at the Wright Brother National Memorial on Monday, December 17, 2018 with gates opening at 8:00 AM. The event is sponsored by the First Flight Society, the oldest organization honoring the Wright Brothers, in partnership with the National Park Service.

This year’s program honors Katherine Johnson. A key figure in the history of manned space flight, Katherine Johnson participated for 33 years in the NASA space programs based in Hampton, Virginia. Her work as a mathematician in the early years of the NASA manned space program has been celebrated in writing and cinema. In 2017 NASA dedicated the Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility at Langley in her honor.

Dr. David Bowles, Director of the NASA Langley […]