Featherston Delivers Missouri State Flag To Wright Brothers Memorial

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. – October 6, 2003 – Les Featherston, an EAA member pilot from Mt. Vernon, Missouri, officially represented the state in EAA’s “50 Flags to Kitty Hawk” program Monday, October 6, when he landed at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and presented the Missouri state flag to National Park Service officials.

Featherston is one of 50 EAA-member pilots chosen – one from each state – to participate in the “50 Flags to Kitty Hawk” program, a year-long effort that is part of EAA’s “Countdown to Kitty Hawk” initiative, presented by Ford Motor Company, celebrating the achievements of the Wright brothers and the 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003.

The Missouri Pilots Association “Teacher of the Year Scholarship winner Elaine Kent accompanied Featherston in his Harmon Rocket II. Fellow pilot Bob Morgan also flew along in his Mooney M2OJ.

Featherston was the 37th EAA-member pilot to complete the journey to Kitty Hawk, where he also presented National Park Service officials with a signed proclamation from Governor Robert Holden, declaring August 25, 2003 as “50 Flags to Kitty Hawk Day” throughout the state. Following the presentation, the Missouri flag was raised at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

“This flight was a great honor for me to represent Missouri, a state with a wonderful aviation heritage,” Featherston said.  A retired United Air Lines pilot, Featherston has more than 17,300 hours in the air, and has been an EAA member since 1987. His 960-mile flight took 5:27 hours to complete.

 EAA’s Countdown to Kitty Hawk program, also supported by Microsoft Flight Simulator and Eclipse Aviation, includes construction of an exact flying reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer, and a six-stop national tour of EAA’s “Countdown to Kitty Hawk” pavilion exhibit, which features the Flyer, historic artifacts and Wright brothers correspondence from the Library of Congress, and numerous interactive aviation displays.

The tour will culminate at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., when as part of the Centennial of Flight Celebration, EAA’s Wright Flyer will fly again at 10:35 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2003 – precisely 100 years to the minute from when the Wrights made history.

For more information on EAA’s “Countdown to Kitty Hawk” program, visit www.countdowntokittyhawk.com.