DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090350

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:   66 lines

AFTER YEARS OF DARKNESS DURING WORLD WAR II BLACKOUTS THE LIGHT WAS TURNED OFF, BUT IT CAME BACK TO LIFE THIS WEEK IN ONE OF THE FINAL STEPS IN THE $250,000 RESTORATION OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS MEMORIAL.

The Wright Brothers monument beacon is operational again after a more than half-century pause.

In a 10-minute test run at about 9 p.m. Thursday, the newly repaired three-sided Fresnel lens revolved six times a minute, as it did before it was switched off during World War II blackouts. But thanks to improved technology, the light shines more intensely now.

The 400-watt metal halide lamp burns 2 1/2 times brighter than the old 1,000-watt incandescent bulb that once illuminated the sandy hills where flight began. On a clear night, the beam will be visible for up to six miles.

A handful of National Park Service staff, monument volunteers and restoration contractors Thursday watched the resusitated beam slowly trace the Perimeter Road at the base of the 61-high-foot granite structure. With a cool northeast breeze chilling the air, a crescent moon and a smattering of stars backdropped the glow of the beacon.

``It's gorgeous,'' said Al Jones, a committee chairman for the First Flight Centennial Commission. ``They have done an absolutely spectacular job. It's a remarkable monument.''

Connor Dempsey, the project's supervising contractor, had the honors of flipping the switch. He said his company fixed the lamp by default. The ballast and lamp socket had to be changed, and the copper windings in the original motor had to be rewound.

``We sent it to the original manufacturer and they wouldn't touch it,'' Dempsey said. ``They said they were scared they would mess it up.''

The light was made by American Gas, a New Jersey company that has changed names and locations severaltimes since the lens and its workings were installed in 1932, Dempsey said.

Dempsey, marketing vice president for Watson Electrical Construction Co. of Wilson, said the lamp cost ``virtually nothing'' for supplies. ``But the labor was considerable,'' he said.

Contractors had to rent a crane to boost the light and the monument's dome in place, one of the last steps in the $250,000 restoration project. The exterior granite of the 65-year-old national landmark has been cleaned, grouting has been restored, electrical wiring redone and the dome replaced. Landscaping improvements will be scheduled in the near future.

The restoration is in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the Wrights' historic flight on Dec. 17, 1903.

Mary Doll, site manager at the memorial, said the light will be turned on permanently at a rededication ceremony of the Wright Brothers National Monument sometime next spring. She said the celebration will be a kick-off to a fund-raising campaign for the anniversary event in 2003.

Doll said the test lighting of the beacon was done for the benefit of contractors, who wanted to make sure it worked as expected. Because some may not be able to attend the rededication ceremony, they wanted the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of their labor. Doll said that contractors have become very attached to the memorial in the course of their work.

``I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them don't have a picture of the monument next to pictures of their kids in their wallets,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Alight for the first time in decades, the rotating beacon atop the

Wright Brothers Monument at Kill Devil Hills shone forth Thursday

night as the crescent moon appeared in the western sky behind it.

The memorial has just been renovated.

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