DATE: Saturday, November 8, 1997            TAG: 9711080247

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

                                            LENGTH:   36 lines

FOUR SENATORS CALL FOR COMMISSION TO HELP CELEBRATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FLIGHT THE NEW YORK HERALD

U.S. senators from North Carolina and Ohio introduced legislation Friday that would create a commission to promote international participation in the 100th anniversary of powered flight.

The commission would have 21 members and include the secretaries of defense, transportation and the interior as well as the governor of Ohio and chairman of North Carolina's First Flight Centennial Commission.

The panel would encourage national and international participation in the centennial in 2003, devise a logo and distribute a register of programs and projects.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, John Glenn, D-Ohio, Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C.

Helms said the Wright Brothers changed the world.

``The Wright Brothers' triumph at Kitty Hawk on that bone-chilling day of Dec. 17, 1903, has to rank as one of mankind's greatest achievements,'' he said. ``The world has not been the same since.''

DeWine said the history of flight is a story about how creativity overcame a fundamental human barrier.

``In this century, thanks to the freedom and spirit of creativity in this country, the human race broke the bonds of Earth,'' DeWine said. ``From Dayton to Kitty Hawk to the moon and beyond the limits of our solar system, this is a story to celebrate.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center

The Wright Brothers experiment with gliders at Kill Devil Hills.

Their first successful powered flight happened on Dec. 17, 1903.

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