Paul Calle (American, 1928 - 2010) and Chris Calle (American, B. 1961) "1900s - Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers" Signed lower right. Mixed Media on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. Celebrate the Century Series 32c Kitty Hawk 1903 stamp issued February 3, 1998. December 17, 1903, was a bleak and chilly morning in North Carolina. On the windswept sand dunes of Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, a small group of curious onlookers had gathered to watch two intrepid brothers -- Wilbur and Orville Wright -- attempt to fly a 745-pound wheelless biplane they'd built in their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop. In the middle of the 40-foot-long lower wing lay Orville Wright, face down in a hip cradle. As the 12-horsepower motor roared and the aircraft moved forward, Wilbur Wright ran alongside holding the tip of the right wing to keep the plane steady. Approaching the end of the runway, the Flyer suddenly rose into the air and climbed to about 10 feet above the sand. For 12 memorable seconds it actually flew, covering a distance of 120 feet before nosing down and skidding to a rude landing. Orville later described the event as the "first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started." The Wright Brothers spent five years marketing their plane before signing contracts with both the U.S. Army and a French commercial concern. The airplane was poised to make a monumental mark on the 20th century. Image Size: 18.5 x 13.5 in. Overall Size: 22.25 x 16 in. Unframed. (B15823 / B15829)