Introduction by Rep. Ralph Regula. Acknowledge Gen. Reynolds as the host of the event and Gov. Bob Taft as well as Congressman Hobson.

Thank you Congressman Regula. As former chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, the congressman is the steward of our Department He and Congressman Sid Yates have shaped the structure of today's Interior Department. We miss him now that he has moved over to be chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.

Fran Mainella, our Director of the National Park Service is with me today. As she can tell you, a great deal of care goes into interpretive centers across this nation. A lot of research backs up the stories we make available to the American people.

Those stories must be accurate, reflect history and spur the imagination. Those daring young men in their flying machine-- the Wright Brothers-- are a natural for us.

We ask questions like, "Where does the history of flight begin? Was it with the first man who felt the wind and decided it must be the breath of some gigantic God?"

To the inhabitants of the ancient world like the Egyptians and Assyrians, flight was mysteriously awesome. They deemed it proper for their gods to have the power of flight. For example, the Egyptian goddess, Isis, appears on the sarcophagus of Rameses III holding wings.

All believed that to fly is to conquer the heavens, the air, the universe. In mankind's collective imagination we have filled that air with winged demons and dragons, angels and devils, flying carpets and winged horses.

In Africa, a great folklore warrior, Kibaga, flew invisibly over his enemies and dropped rocks on them. The Generals here might see that as a precursor to the first aerial bomber.

From fiction and folklore, we progressed to hopes for real flight. Leonardo da vinci drew detailed designs for a helicopter and parachute back in 1500, along with 150 intricate sketches of flying machines.

But to actually leave the comfort of earth on fragile wings demanded a blend of courage and curiosity, of daring and dedication.

Wilbur Wright back in 1901 compared flying to learning to ride a fractious horse. He said, "It is very much the same in learning to ride a flying machine; if you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial."

I'm not sure anything would have kept him off that horse, er-- flying machine. Anymore than Neal Armstrong would have said, "Get someone else to land on the moon."

Pilots, balloonists, astronauts, have always been daredevils, dreamers and visionaries. But it all began with the Wrights and their intrepid spirit.

Their dream may have taken root back in 1878 when their father brought home a toy helicopter. Wilbur was 11 and Orville was seven. That toy lasted only a short time, but it held the seeds of the brothers' fascination with flight.

Those seeds grew and sprouted wings-the wings of a glider that was the prototype for the Wright Flyer.

A combination of skill, knowledge, luck and daring brought all the elements together for the Wright brothers to make their first flight on the wind-swept dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

I recently had the experience of seeing Ken Hyde work on his reconstruction of the original Wright Flyer, slated to fly at Kitty Hawk on the anniversary of the first flight next year. He is putting this thing together in Virginia by following the papers and blueprints of the Wrights. It is an enormous undertaking and makes one appreciate their incredible talents.

That first flyer met Orville and Wilbur's goal of being the first plane to sustain manned flight. But preserverence and persistence kept them in the air until they perfected a more usable aircraft.

The two men who knew about the mechanics of cycling and the intricacies of engineering, turned that know-how into an achievement with few equals. When they finally "slipped the surly bonds of earth," the world changed for all time. It just took the world awhile to figure out what had happened.

For the longest period, the airplane was a frivolity. During the first World War the military established its use in combat. And after the armistice, commercial airlines sprang up in Europe; and in the U.S., planes began flying the mail. Once the airplane went to work, its fate was sealed.

The Wright Brothers' discoveries changed the way we travel, the way we do business, conduct war and even the way we talk: Air-mail, jet set, deplane, dogfight-and trays in their upright and locked positions-- have entered the lexicon in the last 100 years.

Some people look at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field and see dirt and grass, others envision an elementary flying machine with two men working daily to perfect it.

Sometimes it takes an intervenor to get from the first view to the second. That is what interpretive centers are all about.

The Center's exhibits focus on the Wright Brother's development of the world's first practical airplane at Huffman Prairie Flying Field in 1904 and 1905.

They applied a rigorous scientific method to the problem of creating a practical airplane. Their pioneering wind tunnel research corrected errors in aeronautical engineering concepts and data that were previously accepted as standard.

The Center explains their successes and their return to the field from 1910 to 1915 to operate a School of Aviation and to test the new planes they were producing at The Wright Company. The Wright Flyer III was built, tested and modified in Dayton, becoming the world's first fully controllable, practical airplane.

Can you imagine the scene? A 17-year-old destined for farm work tells his father he wants to fly instead of work the fields. The response would be something like, "You'll kill yourself in one of those contraptions!"

It reminds me of that poor kid in "The Christmas Story" movie who wants a BB-gun for Christmas. Everyone, including Santa, tells him: "You'll put your eye out."

Luckily, many young men and women followed their heart and took the challenge. Yes, even in the early years women flew. Harriet Quimby was the first licensed female pilot in the United States. She learned to fly in the summer of 1911 at a school on Long Island.

The popularity of flying increased and The School of Aviation and the small field evolved into Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. There, young men and women are welcomed to the flight line and proudly wear the wings of eagles.
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At the Department of the Interior I have asked all employees to use a management approach I call the 4 C's. They are communication, consultation and cooperation-all in the service of conservation.

As I look at the history of the agreement establishing this Interpretive Center, I see a model for the 4 C's.

First of all, there seems to be a commitment in the Dayton area that the story of the Wright brothers is one they want to preserve and share.

From the Wright Cycle Co. to this Interpretive Center to the entire Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, you have made your town an experience in learning about flight. You successfully have communicated that message.

Thank you to the members of Aviation Trail, Inc., Inventing Flight, the Dayton Aviation Heritage Commission and all of their supporters for their work. They have helped preserve Dayton's history, the story of the Wright brothers and of poet and writer Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Wright childhood friend.

There was cooperation between the Air Force and the Park Service in developing this center within the boundaries of Wright Patterson Air Force Base. We are grateful to them and appreciative of all they have done to make this celebration a memorable event.

But the commitment goes beyond the local area. The State of Ohio contributed more than a million dollars from their State Capital Funds to help the Air Force construct the Center. And the National Park Service has put in a million and a half dollars for the exhibits.

It was money well spent. Dedicating this center as one of the first actions for the Centennial of Flight is a fitting tribute to the bicycle boys. I look forward to continuing to work with all of our partners here in Dayton and to watch and visit as other events unfold across the Nation.

There is a list of firsts almost as long as the days of a year. The first parachute jump from an airplane, the first four-engine plane, the first air-craft carrier. There was the switch to instrument navigation, the use of radios-- then jets, missiles and finally space flight.

The list of stars is longer and so much a part of our lives that we recognize them just using their last names: Lindbergh, Earhart, Yeager, Armstrong, Glenn.

Research and development continues at Wright-Patterson and throughout the world. There is no perceivable limit to where the next 100 years of flight will take us.

Perhaps some child visiting this center will be inspired and be the next name on that list of stars. That is the reason we work so hard today preserving history. So that we can inspire the inventors of the future.

Thank you