Wright brothers were ‘dit-dots’ of the highest order

Ohioans Wilbur and Orville Wright experienced the warmth of coastal North Carolina’s “hand of hospitality” in Kitty Hawk in 1900…where they carried out their “first in flight” experiments on the Outer Banks. 

Amanda Wright Lane, a great grandniece of the Wright brothers, said her uncles “made the Outer Banks sound like a slice of heaven. They described the fishing, beautiful beaches, hunting.” 

She possesses a letter that her Uncle Wilbur sent to the family back in Dayton, Ohio, dated Sept. 23, 1900. He wrote: “My trip would be no great disappointment if I accomplish practically nothing. I look upon it as a pleasure trip pure and simple, and I know of no trip from which I could expect greater pleasure at the same cost.” 

That may be the Outer Banks’ very first tourism testimonial. Aye, indeed, the Wright brothers were the consummate “dit-dots” – tourists who come, spend their money and then go home after their vacation. 

Carteret County historian Rodney Kemp said that term applies to those “from Off” who come and leave, making the dit-dots more popular than “dingbatters” who come and stay. 

Lane said the brothers agreed to return to Kitty Hawk in the fall season of 1901 “to the wind, sand and solitude of the Outer Banks,” and “it was the Outer Banks’ hospitality that clinched them coming back.”

 Kitty Hawk residents Capt. Bill and Addie Tate took the Wright brothers under their wing, paving the way for them to be successful in their scientific endeavors. 

Orville Wright said Capt. Tate was “postmaster, assistant weatherman, farmer, fisherman and political boss of Kitty Hawk – versatile, independent and self-sufficient.” 

(Some sources said Addie Tate was the postmaster; her husband was assistant postmaster.)

The Wright brothers started testing their glider at Lookout Hill overlooking Kitty Hawk Bay, but Capt. Tate helped them move about four miles farther south where the dunes were somewhat taller at Kill Devil Hills.

 

It was here in the 1902 fall season, that the brothers reportedly made more than 1,000 flights and broke all the existing records for gliding time and distance. 

In the autumn of 1903, the brothers began experiments with a motor-driven flying machine and honed their theories about pitch, roll and yaw. They were avid birdwatchers, too, studying which birds could go the longest without flapping their wings, soar the highest, dive, bank and turn. 

Their favorite was the turkey buzzard, and the Wright brothers took more than 200 measurements of the bird, from every possible angle. 

The brothers forged bonds with the surfmen who were assigned to the U.S. Life-Saving Service stations at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

 

On days when the wind was strong and steady, the Wrights hoisted a red flag made from a bedsheet to signal the off-duty lifesavers that the brothers could use some help carrying their flying machine up the dunes, reported Todd Dulaney of Our State magazine. 

James Charlet, manager of the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum in Rodanthe, told Dulaney: “There is a gene in every lifesaver to want to help.” Hence, the surfmen provided an essential service to “solving the problem of flight.” 

“They were the world’s first ground crew,” Charlet said. 

One of the surfmen who deserves special mention was John T. Daniels, who snapped the photograph of the first flight on Dec. 17, 1903. The aircraft stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.