By ANN Correspondent Rob Milford

50 flags from 50 states, one from D.C. and one from Puerto Rico. When the EAA puts their mind to something, it usually happens, and they were all smiles when Exec. V.P. Bob Warner took the stage in Kitty Hawk to thank all the members who flew to Kitty Hawk and First Flight field with their state flags.

In honor of the Centennial of Flight, that mission has been underway for the last year. The flags are flown here, it's raised up the flag pole, pictures are taken, handshakes made.

The aircraft ranged from a Falcon 50 to some guys from Maine who did it in powered parachutes, and took 4 or 5 days. There was the Super Cub from Alaska.

There was Alabama's Ron David, who took 10 hours in his L-19 Birddog, appropriate for a retired Colonel who learned in that type of aircraft. Wyoming's Tim Hu, who took 7 days flying the airmail route from his home in Cheyenne, and, like the airmail days, got grounded by weather for four days in Dayton, and managed to see all the IMAX movies at Wright Pat's AF Museum.

Colorado sent Donna Miller, a laid-off American Airlines 737 pilot, who wears a small piece of the Wright Flyer around her neck. A gift from a friend who had his pilot's license signed by Orville Wright, that little scrap of fabric has flown at least once with Eileen Collins on her space shuttle flights, and on a sunny Monday afternoon, it was literally in the shadow of Kill Devil Hill, 100 years later.

Illinois Charles Taylor. The grandson of the man who made the engines for the Wright Brothers. He came down in his 172 with his flight instructor, at the time, a laid-off airline pilot, who's cell phone rang at Kitty Hawk, with a job offer.

There are stories that go with every pilot who made the trip, like Gina Montgomery from Pennsylvania, Johnny Smith from Mississippi, California's Martha King (pictured right), and Utah's Mark Reynolds. They're all listed at the EAA's website.

The EAA sums it all up by saying, "This allowed individual pilots to participate in the Centennial of Flight in a way that celebrates the freedom of flight." There were proclamations from Legislatures and Governors to go along with the flags, all of which had flown over the State Capitol buildings.

FMI: www.countdowntokittyhawk.com