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4200 Copyright, 1948. The Washington Post Company, Entered as Second Class Matter, Postoffice, Washington, D.C. Washington: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1948 The 'Kitty Hawk' Is Back 'On the Beam' [[image]] A PLACE OF HONOR ABOVE THE CROWD- Beneath the fabric wings of the Wright brothers' famed Kitty Hawk - the first airplane to carry man aloft in sustained flight-spectators listen to ceremonies in which the Government officially accepted the plane yesterday at the Smithsonian Institution. The tiny pusher plane, which the Wrights called the Flyer, hangs in front of the Charles A. Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, first nonstop plain from New York to Paris Craft Accepted for U.S. Wright Plane Is Welcomed In Ceremony at Smithsonian By V.R. Montanari Post Reporter The clumsy, frail, 605-pound, heavier-than-air craft which first pulled man into the air was officially welcomed home here yesterday. The Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk, which made the first free controlled and sustained flight with an engine, was formally accepted for the United States in a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution. It was 45 years to the hour after Wilbur and Orville Wright took off in the strange contraption from the sand of Kitty Hawk, N.C., that they were hailed by public figures from President Truman and Chief Justice Vinson down as the first conquerors of the air. Two B-36s- the world's largest bombers- 18 D-29 Superfortresses and a score of F-80 jet Shooting Stars, thundered over their tiny forbear, as the program ended in a formidable Air Force display. Message From Arnold They added weight to the words of Gen. H.H. Arnold, wartime chief of the Air Force, who said in a message read at the ceremony: "Our country has been led through one historical step after another, without seeking it, to a position of world leadership. Air power is chiefly responsible." A message from the President read to the 800 officials and invited guests assembled at the Arts and Industries Building where the Kitty Hawk now hangs in the place of honor, said the historic airplane's return "will quicken in all hearts in appreciation of the achievements of American inventive genius." Chief Justice Vinson, chancellor of the of the Smithsonian, presided at the ceremony and accepted title to the prized aircraft from Milton Wright of Dayton, Ohio, nephew of the plane's inventors and representative of their estate. Air Pioneers Present Several other relatives of the Wright brothers, men and women who were identified with the earliest phases of flying in this country and a few who learned to fly in Wright planes, were with the Government and military officials in the audience to see the honored plane come into its own. Conspicuous in the hall were a score of the blue and white checked caps in the "Early Birds," pioneer airmen and airwomen. Among them was Mrs. Alys McKey Bryant of California, who said she "got some junk together from a wreck in 1912 and flew it." Sitting under the Kitty Hawk and Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of See WRIGHT, Page 4, Column 1.
