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TELEVISION TOOK the story of the Wright brothers and of Warrenton's Ken Hyde around the world. There were more than 750 news organizations at the Kitty Hawk First Flight Centennial.
In the wake of the terrible weather on the final day of the event, Hyde, his wife, Beverly, and their crew were overjoyed by the outpouring of public response to their efforts.
Hyde shared some of the flood of e-mails that came to the Wright Experience Web site. Here are short samples excerpted from those comments, with names deleted:
"Y'all done GOOD! and your many hundreds of thousands fans applaud your skill and cunning--which will win out over ignorance and superstition every time! God bless you, one and all."
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"Your effort, commitment and dedication should not be diminished by todays outcome! Simply, the weather did not cooperate. How exciting this day has been, and I hope your disappointment will be lessened. Thank you all for this wonderful project."
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"Greetings, I just got done watching the Discovery Channel program on your reconstructed Wright Flyer. Truly an amazing feat, now or 100 years ago. I hope you'll continue tests to learn more. I live near the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville, Calif., and Travis Air Force Base. I honestly don't think I'll be able to look up at a Cessna or C-5 again the same way. Great Job to all involved and Thank you, Thank you, Thank You."
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"Don't quit! Please keep at it till you get the right conditions and a good flight!! Please! And put the video on the Web site! I can cheer from afar and raise funds. Please let me know how else I can help."
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"Thank you so much for all your hard work and suffering to get an authentic Wright 1903 Flyer ready for today. I know you must be disappointed, but from my side of it, I am not. Watching it on TV I experienced the absolute thrill of waiting for the moment it was time for it to be airborne or not. THANK YOU FOR THAT! I felt like somehow I was there 100 years ago watching these heroes of mine fly for the first time. I am from Ohio. I wanted to be an astronaut and go into space. But my health prevented me from doing that."
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"Just because the weather got stage fright is not a reason to call the attempt a failure. The history that you made will live on. Your research gives us clues to how revolutionary the Flyer's design was, and what you learned will be taught to future generations to come, how is that a failure?"
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"I wanted to thank you ALL for truly recreating the experience of adventure and discovery for the rest of us. By not altering the experiment you made it clear what a delicate equation this first flight was and that the Wrights experienced great disappointment along with their triumphs. Yesterday's events help to underscore a far deeper meaning to their accomplishments as opposed to just another video bite for the mass media. Hats off!!"
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"My wife and I were two of the 45,000 people who sat in the rain to watch the Flyer yesterday. Thanks so much for the opportunity to see it and for the efforts to accurately reproduce it and, of course, the opportunity to see it fly."
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"Congratulations on an incredible journey! What the world witnessed yesterday was the successful culmination of your years of passion, dedication, genius, inspiration, organization, teaming, and hard work! There is absolutely no doubt that Orville and Wilbur are impressed and very honored by the huge tribute you've paid to them. Thank you for sharing your dream with all of us who in some small way share your passion. I know my son was very impressed to meet you, and see the Flyer up close."
