Col. Stephen Goeman delivers the keynote address at the 107th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ First Powered Flight ceremony held Dec. 17, 2010 in front of the Wright Memorial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Colonel Goeman is 445th Airlift Wing commander. Also pictured are (front row from left) Dean Alexander, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park and Colonel Amanda Gladney, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo/Stacy Vaughn)

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National Park Service joins Air Force in honoring Wright Brothers

Published Dec. 20, 2010
By Derek Kaufman
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Air Force and National Park Service leaders gathered in Dayton Dec. 17 to honor the 107th anniversary of the first successful heavier-than-air powered flight by the Wright Brothers.

Dean Alexander, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, called the brothers achievement "a story of two places, Kittyhawk, North Carolina and Dayton, Ohio."

Orville and Wilbur Wright used funding from their Dayton bicycle shop to finance and pursue their dream of powered flight, first realized on the sands of Kitthawk. Then they returned to Dayton and Huffman Prairie on what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to perfect their airplane, unlock the secrets of aerodynamics and teach others to fly.

"They developed a passion for solving the problem of powered flight and persevered in the task despite many setbacks," Mr. Alexander said. "They also brought a scientific approach to the problem which allowed them to overcome the obstacles and achieve success."

Mr. Alexander reflected on 2010 as the centennial for Wright's establishment of the first flying school at Huffman Prairie. Among their early students were Calbraith Rodgers, pilot of the first transcontinental airplane flight in 1911, Roy Brown, the Canadian credited with shooting down the Red Baron during a World War I aerial dogfight, and Henry "Hap" Arnold, who would later become the chief of U.S. Army Air Force's in World War II and the only Air Force 5-star general.

Keynote speaker for the first flight ceremony, Col. Stephen Goeman, noted the distance travelled by Orville Wright on that historic first flight was shorter than the cavernous cargo compartment of the 40-year-old C-5 Galaxy aircraft flown and maintained by Airmen in his unit. The 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson which he commands has started to retire its aging C-5s and will soon receive the C-17 Globemaster III, with the first new jet expected to arrive next month.

Colonel Goeman called the Wright Brothers achievement of practical flight the single most important and life changing event in modern world history. He added it was an event early in his youth -- a flight in a light aircraft -- that ignited a lifelong interest in aviation, and he opined that the nation would be well served by efforts to generate passion for aerospace in young people. The investment may be the key inspiring future engineers, scientists and visionaries he said.

"We need to keep the vision, the dream alive, that the Wright Brothers had," Colonel Goeman said. "It's what we need to instill in our kids...We need to get them excited!"

Col. Amanda Gladney, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson and Stephen Wright, great grand-nephew of the Wright Brothers, placed at wreath at the base of the Wright Brothers Memorial, shortly before a C-5 Galaxy performed a flyover at 10:35 a.m., the same time as Orville's first flight at Kittyhawk.

"It's very gratifying to our family to know that the men and women of the Air Force still want to come out and pay tribute to Wilbur and Orville Wright,107 years after they did what they did," Stephen Wright said.