SOARING100 Introduces 10,000 to the History and Sport(s) of Soaring

At 9:45 AM on October 24, 2011 a ceremony convened at the Wright Brothers National Memorial honoring the centennial of Orville Wright’s 9 minute 45 second world-record soaring duration flight that fulfilled the early requirements of a “C” badge and heralded the beginning of modern soaring. A few hours later the four-day celebration called SOARING100 was also history. More than 10,000 spectators, participants and members of the interested public had met at the Outer Banks of North Carolina to celebrate history and introduce the various forms of soaring to the many visitors.

Moe Acee turns the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation’s Duo Discus onto final approach in front of the Wright Memorial (Photo: Wolf Elber)

The goal of SOARING100 was to educate the public about the importance of Orville Wright’s 1911 flights, to complete the story of the Wright brothers work on the Outer Banks, and to provide the public an opportunity to experience the sports of soaring in which sailplanes, hang gliders, models and paragliders perform prolonged and exciting flights using nature’s air currents in an environmentally friendly way. According to early reports, these goals were accomplished. The event also marked a number of “firsts”. The Symposium of Early Motorless Flight, coordinated by Dr. Tom Crouch may well have been the first academic symposium examining the earliest international developments using gliders during the development of the airplane. The Legends of Hang Gliding Symposium coordinated by John Harris was the first large gathering of most of the world’s current hang gliding pioneers to share their experiences in the development of hang gliding and paragliding. It may well have been the first time the major sport soaring associations (and their pilots), historians and interested onlookers joined at one venue to celebrate and promote soaring. It was the first time that two specially-researched 1911 Wright glider replicas appeared at the same celebration. The Showcase of Soaring History may have been the first flying historical revue of important sailplanes from the 1930’s to the most modern sailplanes and motorgliders. And, from a purely promotional point of view, it was probably one of the largest American gatherings devoted to exposing the public to soaring and history in decades.