First Flight Society announces Board of Directors for 2020

The moon above the First Flight Bounder the evening of July 20, 1969. [courtesy NPS]

The First Flight Society has elected its Board of Directors for 2020 with officers coming from both North Carolina and Virginia.

The Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association, later named First Flight Society, began as a group of local businessmen who successfully petitioned the US Congress to fund and build a monument to the Wright Brothers’ 1903 achievement.

The society plans the annual celebration at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on December 17, mandated by their by-laws to memorialize the work of the Wright Brothers.

The Paul E. Garber Shrine was created by the society in 1966 to honor individuals and groups for achieving significant “firsts” in aviation development since 1903.

Among those enshrined include Charles Lindbergh, Tuskegee Airmen, Mary Feik, John Glenn, Katherine Johnson, and most recently Colonel Gail “the Candy Bomber” Halvorsen among others.

The First Flight Society promotes aviation education through an Aviation Education Committee to expand the knowledge of the Wright Brothers’ legacy by bringing aviation education programs to students in Dare County.

They also offer an annual scholarship through Outer Banks Community Foundation for students pursuing aviation education in North Carolina.

    President: Mike Fonseca
    1st Vice President: Dr. Charles Davidson
    2nd Vice President: Lisa Ellstrom
    Treasurer: H. Taylor Sugg
    Secretary: Blake Sauls
    Board members
    Paul Carr, Sara Lou Copeland, Danny Couch, M. Roy Daniels, III, David Daniels, William “Bill” Douglas, Judith Fearing, Orestes Gooden, Terry Gray, Paul Wright Jameson, Arthur J. Lamothe, Geneva Perry, Blake Sauls, Doug Seay, Mike Smith, Penny Leary Smith and Peregrine White. Joe Lamothe, Mike Smith and Geneva Perry are former presidents.

More information about the First Flight Society can be found at https://firstflight.org.

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