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FREEDOM OF FLIGHT              -3-

WRIGHT: Fasten your seat buckle, Lieutenant!

LAHM: I have it, Mr. Wright.

WRIGHT: Are you going to keep time for us?

LAHM: Yes sir. I have my watch set at the hour. I'll start it when the launching weight falls. If we're still up in the air an hour later, you've sold your first airplane, Mr. Wright.

WRIGHT: Then let's get started.

SOUND: ENGINE FULL AND DIP

ANN'CR: Orville Wright reaches for a lever at his side. Attached to a trigger device, the lever trips fifteen hundred pound weight suspended in a tall derrick behind the plane. Operating a pulley system, the falling weight will whip the launching truck forward and virtually hurl the flying machine into the air ...

LAHM  All read, Mr. Wright?

ANN'CR: Orville Wright grips the launching trigger ...

WRIGHT: Start you watch, Lieutenant!

ANN'CR: ... and pulls!

SOUND: CRACK OF FALLING WEIGHT .. ENGINE BURSTS INTO EXPLOSION OF POWER .. ROARS FULL AND FADES AS AIRPLANE FLIES AWAY ...

ANN'CR: Hats are off, cheers ring wildly .. as Orville Wright and the Army Lieutenant swoop toward the edge of the Fort Myer Parade Ground and lift lightly over the tall trees reaching dangerously for the frail aircraft ....