As an historic re-enactment, December 17th's muddy attempt was right on the money. The same thing happened to the Wright Brothers several times; not enough wind, too little power. The plane rolled down the track. raised a couple of feet, stalled, and then ran off the end of the rail, wallowing to a stop. It happened exactly that way on December 14th,1903 (See left) when Wilbur Wright made an attempt at powered flight. On that occasion, Orville said the plane hopped up for about three and a half seconds before nosing into the sand. Afterward, it had to be repaired so they could give it another go three days later. And, as we all saw, it happened again a hundred years later. The big difference this time was that there were upwards of 30-thousand spectators. In 1903, maybe five.

But when you think about it, the 2003 Flyer's performance probably shows just how true it is to the original, which did the same thing many times after the Wrights started flying at Huffman Prairie in Dayton. On this modern occasion, it really didn't matter much. The crowd that came to Kitty Hawk for the hundred year celebration was just happy to be at that particular place at that particular time.

It rained buckets all day long, but people came early and stayed late. I took the picture on the right at about 6AM. You can see the Wright Brother's lighted monument on Kill Devil Hill in the background.

They found good places for their rented chairs (3 bucks apiece) and planted themselves. When Mary Alice and I got to the flying field just after 6, there were already four rows of chairs ahead of us..settled in around the fence to wait for 10:35 AM, EST..the moment when Orville took off, 100 years ago. They wanted to see a reasonable facsimile for themselves.

The crowd laughed and talked airplanes, listened to the President give a speech about American stick-to-it-ivness, admired the other celebrities, but first and foremost, they had come to see the Flyer fly. There wasn't much complaining, not even from the kids, even though they were soaked to the skin, because when it came to aviation weather, this crowd understood. And when the Flyer didn't fly, they understood that, too, saying "Well, Orville and Wilbur went through this very same thing."

In short, the day was well marked and everybody had a real good time. It was history repeated, just not the piece of history we all expected.

Let's just look at pictures.

They tantalized us. If you look closely, you can see the Flyer's single-rail track laid out in the mud. There's also the bench you see in the famous picture of the takeoff and a big old box camera set to re-record history. They tried hard to get it done, and we cheered them on, but it was clear that if the brothers had that kind of weather on December 17th, 1903 the first flight would probably have occurred a day later..at least.

Here we are..the crowds, Kill Devil Hill, and a carbon copy of the 1903 Wright Flyer inside that big hangar in the distance. What more could you want on December 17th, 2003? Sunshine?

The latest in umbrellas (Left). This lady was watching President Bush. Intently.

This is how she saw him. (Right)

Just for the record, here's the Flyer itself, waiting in the hangar. This was taken before the noon-time attempt, so it's all neat and clean for this picture.

But Kitty Hawk wasn't the only place where human flight would "begin again" that day. A Flyer did actually fly! Our western correspondent, John Taylor,reports from Utah on the next page..

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