Jabiru 5: First in Flight

Yes folks ,and I have reason to believe that more than one person does have a look at this blog otherwise I would have started with " Yes folk." Point is this ...I've caught up .....all entries from now on will be in the present.....after this one that is . This was our last adventure in summer 2013 before we took off south. See ' Un Real Time ' Oct 2013.....if you feel like it of course.
Anyway..our good mate 'Big ' John Boone ( see Before I Go Nov.13 2011...if you feel like it ) took us up for a couple of days at his beach house at Cape Hatteras. That's the sticky-out bit between Beaufort NC and the Chesapeake Bay. Aussies might have to consult an Atlas. "What's that " I hear my grand daughters say !
It's called the Graveyard of the Atlantic as it has strange convergences of currents and huge shoals and of course most of the hundreds of boats wrecks happened before us techno-sailors had chartplotters and 'mostly ' accurate weather forecasts...... not forgetting Chris Parker.
Being very flat and exposed it also has strong and consistent winds

That's not Johns house but you get the point

Back to the winds.

The Wright brothers chose one of the areas there ,Kittyhawk, to do their glider experiments before they eventually built a thing capable of flying itself. Hence the logo "First in Flight" on North Carolina vehicle rego. plates.

In the background is the hill they used to launch their gliders from and in the foreground are the markers for their first 3 flights.

Below is the 3rd flight marker and in the distance is the 4th flight marker

So... the first rock is where they left terra firma and the 1st to 4th stretch to the end of the paddock.

Various people had been getting machines to glide around but FLIGHT meant taking off and landing under their own power on a level plain ....or something like that.

It was a GIANT leap for a couple of men...in 1903.