News & Events

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd

Inducted in 1968

First To Fly Over The North Pole, 1926
First To Fly Over The South Pole, 1929

1888 – 1957

Lieutenant Commander Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett were the first airmen to fly over the North Pole in the “Josephine Ford,” a Fokker Trimotor equipped with skis. Shortly after midnight on May 9, 1926, navigator Byrd and pilot Bennett lifted off a snow-packed runway at Kings Bay, Spitsbergen in Norway. They headed across the formidable arctic wasteland and at 9:02 a.m. crossed the top of the world, 800 miles from their take-off point.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1929, pilot Bernt Balchen, Byrd and a crew of three climbed aboard the Ford Trimotor that Byrd had named “Floyd Bennett” after his old comrade who had died in 1928. At 3:29 p.m. they left the ice pack, headed due south at a speed of 90 miles per hour and climbed to 8,000 feet. As the craft approached the Queen Maud mountain range, the crew was forced to throw overboard everything not tied down, including emergency supplies, to reduce weight so that the craft could clear the glacial summits and reach the polar plateau. At 1:14 a.m. on November 29, Byrd reported by radio “we have reached the South Pole.”

Though each polar flight was completed in less than a day, the excursions’ logistics required months of planning and execution. The Antarctic expedition was a particularly massive undertaking. Byrd went $184,000 in debt to outfit two ships, three planes and 82 men. Fifty men remained in the frozen desert for two years in this scientific endeavor.

Byrd was awarded the Navy Cross for his double success. More importantly, he had opened the way for trans-arctic passenger routes, as well as for routine exploration of both the earth’s poles.

Charles A. Lindbergh

Inducted in 1967

First Non-Stop Solo Flight From New York To Paris, 1927

1902 – 1974

Charles Lindbergh was not the first pilot to fly across the Atlantic: there were 12 prior crossings, five of them non-stop. However, Lindbergh’s solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927 electrified the world and directly impacted American aviation, air transport and popular attitudes toward flying.

Lindbergh’s hazardous lone journey started in the early morning of May 20, 1927, with little pre-flight notice. At the heart of the Ryan “Brougham” NYP plane, called the “Spirit of St. Louis” for his sponsors, was a single 220-horsepower Wright Whirlwind engine. Lindbergh was counting on its efficiency and reliability to enable him to win the $25,000 Orteig prize for the flight. To save weight, the Ryan high-wing monoplane carried no radio or parachute; every possible ounce was eliminated to provide space for fuel. For instance, Lindbergh used a periscope to see directly forward because his vision was blocked by an extra fuel tank. Still, Lindbergh’s heavily burdened craft barely missed the telephone wires during his take-off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island. Flying eastward through fog and darkness and battling lack of sleep, Lindbergh completed the 3,600-mile journey in 33 hours and 29 minutes. At Le Bourget Field in Paris, huge surging crowds met Lindbergh, some ripping off wing fabric for souvenirs.

Lindbergh used his global status to advance aviation throughout the world, and with his wife, Anne Morrow, spent the 1930s as an active advocate of aeronautics. The pair flew exploratory routes across the oceans, across the Arctic and across the north Pacific on behalf of American aviation companies and airlines.

During World War II, Lindbergh flew as a civilian technical advisor improving the performance of U.S. military planes and engines in the Pacific, and even flew some combat patrols.

Lindbergh’s epic solo flight transformed public opinion on the value and significance of aircraft, air travel and aeronautics, helping lay the foundation for the future development of U.S. aviation.

Wilbur & Orville Wright

Inducted in 1966

First To Achieve Successful Powered Flight In A Heavier-Than-Air-Machine, 1903

Wilbur Wright: 1867 – 1912
Orville Wright: 1871 – 1948

The Wright brothers made the world’s first four successful airplane flights on the cold, windswept sands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Their “Flyer” lifted from level ground to the north of Big Kill Devil Hill at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the 605-pound machine during the first flight, traveling 120 feet in 12 seconds.

Although Wilbur achieved the best results of the day on the fourth and final flight, 852 feet in 59 seconds, it is Orville’s earlier flight that is best remembered. As Orville later described:
“This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without a reduction in speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it began.”

With these four successful flights, Wilbur and Orville Wright launched the world into the age of aviation.

First Flight Society Friends Agreement Signed with National Park Service

April 11, 2014

The NPS recognizes the long and valuable tradition of philanthropy in the national parks. Friends groups have played a critical role in the success of this country’s national parks, and it is the policy of the NPS to support and strengthen its relationships with the First Flight Society, and to encourage innovation and creativity to meet mutual goals.

In 1927, a group of forward-thinking northeastern North Carolina business and civic leaders began an effort to preserve the original site of the Wright brothers’ flights of December 17, 1903. The group formally organized on August 16, 1927, as the Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association and set about the task of acquiring the site where Orville and Wilbur Wright made their four historic flights in 1903. The Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association was formally incorporated in 1943. Its name was changed to Kill Devil Hills Memorial Society in 1951 and in 1966 changed to the First Flight Society.

The purpose of the Park is to preserve for public use and enjoyment the monument and historic site “in commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright” and to provide, through interpretation and education, the opportunity for the public to recognize contributions to the scientific and technological progress of mankind through the Wright’s experiments.

The National Park Service and the First Flight Society share in our missions and purpose resulting in the benefit of a partnership effort that has endured since the Wright Brothers National Memorial became part of the National Park System in 1933. The First Flight Society and the National Park Service will continue their collaborative relationship under this Agreement, working on current and future projects and improvements in the Park to enhance the visitor’s experience and underscore the continuing relevance of the Right Brothers’ aviation achievements, especially the first flight on December 17, 1903.

The First Flight Society is excited about our relationship with the National Park Service and we look forward to expanding aviation educational programs and activities and supporting the goals of the National Park Service at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.