Assembling The Glider - Monday, September 17, 1900
The History: It had taken Wilbur almost a week to get from Dayton, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Wilbur rested the next couple of days. Bill Tate introduced him to people in the community and the men at the Kitty Hawk Life Saving Station.
Crew of the U.S. Life Saving Station at Kitty Hawk rowing to shore, October, 1900. |
The crates containing the glider had arrived from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. However, the lumber Wilbur had purchased in Norfolk, Virginia had been two feet shorter than planned. The glider had been designed with an 18-foot span that ran the length of the planes (wings). Unable to purchase spruce or 18-foot pieces of any lumber, Wilbur had settled on 16-foot white pine.
Today, Wilbur got back to work. Borrowing Addie Tate's sewing machine, Wilbur set it up in the yard. He cut and resewed the French sateen fabric which would cover the wings so that it would fit the shorter 6-foot wings.
The Kitty Hawk Life Saving Station was one of seven in the region, created in 1874. The stations were two-stories tall with a lookout tower, lifeboats and a boathouse with ramps. The following year, a weather bureau station was build next to the Kitty Hawk Station to track the weather and especially hurricanes.
The North Carolina coast had dangerous shoals. (A shoal is a sandbank or sandbar that makes the water shallow.) In addition to rescues, during storms the lifesaving station crewmembers would patrol the beaches with lanterns and flares to warn boats and ships of the treacherous conditions.
Most of the men in the Kitty Hawk area made their living as fishermen. Working at the lifesaving stations provided additional seasonal work. From December through March when the lifesaving stations were manned around the clock, a crewmember earned $50 a month. During the rest of the year, the crew was paid $3 each time they were called.
On May 2, 1928, Kitty Hawk residents would erect a monument at this spot near the Tate's home where Wilbur first began his work on the glider.
If there was no electricity, how did Wilbur run the sewing machine?
