A fitting tribute (1/15/04)

A major historical milestone was passed a few days ago — the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight by the Wright brothers on Dec. 17, 1903. Mankind had targeted this dream for many centuries, but it took the genius of those two to pull it off.

Their curiosity had been fired up years before with a gift from their father. He was an itinerant preacher while the family was living in Iowa. After one of his trips, he brought a toy home to the two boys. Wilbur was age 12; Orville was 8.

The toy was a whirly gig — a pencil-size stick with a propeller on the top. You spin it between your hands and it would fly for a few feet. Being inventive kids, the boys made one larger, but it would not fly. This failure stuck in their minds and eventually led to the serious study of flying.

When they really dug into the subject, it took them four years to get an answer — they flew on Dec. 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C. One of the obvious routs of study for them was the study of how birds fly.

Soaring birds, like hawks, fly markedly differently than hummingbirds. The question was how different birds solved their flying problems, but it was several years later before the whirly bird answer was solved. It developed that if you doubled the size of the wing, you had to apply four times as much power to make it go. The power applied had to be the square of the change in size. Their hands cold not apply four times the power to make it go.

Their solving the problems of powered flight changed the world forever. The Smithsonian Institution celebrated that event on Dec. 15, 2003 by opening a massive new museum building at Dulles International Airport, called the Udvar-Hazy Center. The opening was staged in a series of events. On Dec. 9, they staged the first event called the Veteran’s Day. As one of the representatives of the 20th Air Force, I was able to attend. As part of this, there were more than 4,000 in attendance. The building is awesome in size — 985 feet long, over 200 feet wide, and 100 feet tall. It contains planes as small as the Piper Cub (the Model T of aviation) and included a Concord, which was supersonic but also super expensive to fly and maintain.

There are two parts to the collection — a building in downtown Washington, D.C. that has plans like the Wright brothers’ first plane, The Spirit of Saint Louis and the Winnie Mae. As planes grew larger more space was needed and the new building was built at Dulles — 26 miles from downtown. Eventually, $300 million will be spent in donated funds (not tax money).

To start the process Steven Udvar-Hazy, a Hungarian immigrant, donated more than $60 million. He is a professional pilot and made his wealth leasing airplants just as Hertz leases automobiles. The building is about half full; it is estimated to take ten years to fill. They have all kinds of services from the displays to restaurants, gift shops, an IMAX theater, learning centers and flight simulators.

If you visit, bear in mind it is 20 miles from downtown, traffic is significant, parking costs $12, there are no nearby hotels or motels and expenses are high in Washington. Admission is free. There are acres of concrete floors to walk; you can not do it in four hours, but don’t forget, it took 100 years to put it in place.

The size and scope of it is mind-boggling. These two men had no guidance beyond their own desire and dedication to an idea. Their freedom was not to soar like a bird, but it was to have the freedom to think.

This huge museum is a fitting memorial to them.

Eugene M. Gillum, M.D.

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