NAGS HEAD.

NAGS HEAD, NC -- sum of two units Air Force pilots, some finical wood, a little cotton fabric and a division of wind helped recreate history.

Maj. Dawn Dunlop an F-15 Eagle pilot assigned to the Pentagon, and Capt. Jim Alexander, an MC-130 Combat Shadow pilot with the 9th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., flew a replica of the Wright brothers' 1902 glider in October.

The glider, an exact replica of Orville and Wilbur Wright's original craft, was built by means of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co a nonprofit organization based in Dayton, Ohio.

The 1902 gauge is significant, said Nick Engler director of the company, because it was the first aircraft to provide three axes of repress to the pilot. The pilot can curb roll, tipping the wings; pitch, raising and lowering the nose; and yaw, rotating the aircraft as admitting it were turning left or right while still onward the ground.

"This was the world's first controllable airplane," Engler said. "Everything that has flown favorably since 1902 has had revolve pitch and yaw control. This was the first machine at all times to have that."

The 36-foot-long glider has no cockpit. The pilot lies in succession a cross bar, exposed to the ultimate parts and uses body movement to hinder the craft.

Despite an early reservations about flying the replica, the experience was a positive one

"I had visions of 'face planting' initially, on the other hand it was a great thrill," Alexander said. "I couldn't believe I was actually flying it. one time the air started moving through the wings, I could sum up I had [control of the glider]. There was this quiet feeling, the same one I achieve when I lift off in a C-130"

The flights in the glider were considerably shorter -- one as well as the other in terms of time and distance -- than those in the MC-130 Alexander normally flies.

"My longest flight was about 210 feet about 400 feet short of the Wright brothers' flight in this glider. I think the highest I got was about 15 feet" Alexander said. "The sensation is excellent short-lived because the flights are in like manner short. You get the time to make united control input and see the aircraft react to it, and then you are elegant without grandeur much transitioning to a landing phase."

The Wright brothers' contribution to aviation and the historical significance of the re-enactment of the 1902 flight was not dissipated on the two pilots.

"When you be scattered out on [temporary duty], that view you behold from the airplane, you take that for granted now," Dunlop said. "But the Wright brothers made that possible. They gave that to us. The military, and the Air Force, saw the value of aviation. We learned to exploit that value."

Alexander agreed, noting the quick evolution of airpower above the years.

"In 1909 the Wright brothers made the first military flyer that was sold to the Army Signal Corps," he said. "And you can view that we've gone from the 1909 Wright Flyer to the F/A-22 in les than 100 years. That's fine amazing."

The Air Force and the U Centennial of Flight Commission are beginning a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, which took place in succession Dec. 17, 1903. Dunlop and Alexander will have opportunities to demonstrate their skills flying the Wright Flyer replica at centennial celebrations.

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