We can dare to fly to even greater heights…

  • Published
  • By Gen. Greg Martin
  • Air Force Materiel Command commander
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  Dec. 17, 1903, is the day two bicycle shop owners from Dayton, Ohio, changed the world. Their new invention, a flying machine, flew only 120 feet on its first flight that historic day, but that meager distance grew during the past century to where pilots and passengers can now circle the globe in a matter of hours.

The past century of powered flight, with all its marvels and technological advances, evolved from a small patch of flat land just a few hundred feet from where Air Force Materiel Command headquarters now stands on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. For it was to Huffman Prairie Wilbur and Orville Wright brought their flying machine following that first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. And it was at Huffman Prairie they used their flyer to develop and perfect the basic piloting techniques that would become so fundamental to every pilot of every flight during the next 100 years.

Just as the Wright brothers adjusted and tested their machine on Huffman Prairie, Air Force scientists and test pilots during the years have used their knowledge and skills to push aviation technologies to the limits of our imagination. Our Air Force has done as much, if not more than any other single entity to allow man to fly higher, faster and farther.

If the Wright Brothers could see how their humble beginnings have evolved, they'd be amazed and proud, especially if they could see what airpower has done for freedom and democracy around the world. Airpower has been and will continue to be a cornerstone of our national defense as well as the arm that allows us to reach out and provide humanitarian assistance to the world's less fortunate.

We in the Air Force feel especially close to this year's Centennial of Flight celebration. Each day, we should be grateful that two bicycle shop owners had the vision, determination and imagination to change the world. If we grasp the same vision and imagination that allowed the Wright brothers to soar, we can dare to fly to even greater heights in the next century of flight. (Courtesy of AFMC News Service)