On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers took flight and, although it was only for 12 seconds and a distance of 120 feet, history was forever changed.

These sites both pay homage to the pair and share some of the glory of those first moments as a century of flight is celebrated with a newly constructed replicas and, hopefully, a successful recreation of the flight itself.

•  http://wrightexperience.com. The Wright Brothers' original planes and most of their notes, studies and drawings were destroyed to keep competitors from stealing the pair's plans and discoveries. What may have meant success for the brothers also meant a lack of historical pieces for the world to study later. The Discovery of Flight Foundation and the Experimental Aircraft Association working with the Wright Experience have painstakingly recreated as many of the early airships as possible from the photographs taken by Wilbur and Orville along the trail to Kitty Hawk. An exact replica has been built and tested and will be flown today. Find out all about it here, and at both:

•  www.countdowntokittyhawk.org. This is a beautifully designed site in honor of the reenactment of the 1903 flight. Check out all the details and get a full report later today.

•  www.wrightflyer.org. Fact-filled and full of photos, this site from the American Institute Of Aeronautics & Astronautics also tells about today's flight and about those responsible both for the original attempt and this current one. Be sure to read the prophetic letter from Wilbur to Octave Chanute detailing his belief in air flight by man.

•  www.outerbanks.com/wrightbrothers. If you couldn't be there in person today for the re-flight, you can at least visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Visitors Center online at this address. Be sure to look through all the photos. They pretty much tell the story from early beginnings in a bicycle shop to an exciting ending in the sky.

•  www.first-to-fly.com. This is the site of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, a virtual museum of pioneer aviation. If you have any interest in the subject at all, these pages are a "must visit" Internet destination. In addition to the encyclopedia of information and the continuing studies about early flight and the Wrights, there are a couple of exciting things happening just today. First, a reprinting of a cartoon strip featuring Orville and Wilbur that hasn't been seen since its original publishing date in 1910. Second, for anyone with a serious interest in aviation collectables, a Wright Brothers propeller, signed and dated by Orville himself, is being auctioned. The bidding is set to end tomorrow. If you're interested, take a look at the photos and check out the current bid price.

•  www.heritagecs.com. If the cost of the propeller is a bit steep for you, some of these items might be more to your budgetary limitations, such as an original check of the Winters National Bank of Dayton, Ohio, payable to the Dayton Power & Light Co. for $9.11, signed by Orville Wright on August 18, 1917. With "an excellent bold and dark signature," the asking price is $650.

Jan Perry is a Kentucky-based writer. She welcomes your e-mails at SiteSeer2K@aol.com.