Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

Main article: Dare County, North Carolina

Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest town in the Outer Banks area.

The town is famous because the Wright brothers made their first successful airplane flights there on December 17, 1903. They chose this spot because of its strong, steady winds. A memorial called the Wright Brothers National Memorial was built there in 1932 to honor them.

Kill Devil Hills wasn’t a town when the first flight happened. It became an official town in 1953. Nearby Kitty Hawk is often said to be where the first flight took place, but it is actually about 4 miles north of the real site.

History

Kill Devil Hills is famous for the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It honors the Wright brothers' first powered airplane flights in the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903.

Later, in 1911, Orville Wright returned and set a new world record for gliders. He stayed in the air for over 10 minutes.

The town also has Sam’s Diner. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999.

Geography

Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina. It is on the barrier islands called the Outer Banks. The town covers an area of 5.5 square miles, mostly land with a little water.

The town has a humid subtropical climate. This means it has hot, humid summers and cool winters. In summer, a cooling sea breeze can help, but some days can still be very hot and humid. Kill Devil Hills can sometimes get hurricanes between June and November.

Kill Devil Hills racial composition
Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	6,478	84.61%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	86	1.12%
Native American	25	0.33%
Asian	84	1.1%
Other/Mixed	324	4.23%
Hispanic or Latino	659	8.61%

Sports

Kill Devil Hills has a baseball team called the Outer Banks Daredevils. They play in the Tidewater Summer League for college players during the summer. The Daredevils started in 1997 and began playing in Kill Devil Hills in 2005. Their home games are at the First Flight Baseball Complex on Veterans Drive.

Education

Kill Devil Hills is part of the Dare County Schools system. Two schools are in the town: First Flight Elementary School and First Flight Middle School. They are south of a special memorial place called the Monument.

High school students in Kill Devil Hills go to First Flight High School. This school opened in 2004. Before that, they went to Manteo High School.

Some parts of Kill Devil Hills send students to Nags Head Elementary School. This happened when Nags Head Elementary opened in 2005. The Dare County Library has a branch in Kill Devil Hills for everyone to use.

Transportation

In 1903 the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane, the Wright Flyer, from land now part of Kill Devil Hills

First Flight Airport (IATA: FFA, ICAO: KFFA, FAA LID: FFA) is a public airport owned by the National Park Service and located just west of Kill Devil Hills. It covers 40 acres and has a single runway.

The airport was important for early flying experiments by the Wright brothers. It was also one of the stops for a special air tour in 2003.

Popular culture

Kill Devil Hills has been in movies, music, and other fun shows. The 1983 movie Brainstorm ends at the Wright Brothers National Memorial visitor center in Kill Devil Hills. A famous monster truck named Grave Digger has the town's name on it. In 2005, Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden, made an album called Tyranny of Souls. It has a song called “Kill Devil Hill” about the first airplane flight. In 2011, musicians Rex Brown and Vinny Appice started a band named Kill Devil Hill.