town, Dare county, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies on Bodie Island, a narrow sand barrier (one of the Outer Banks) facing the Atlantic Ocean opposite Albemarle Sound. Immediately south at Kill Devil Hills is Wright Brothers National Memorial (1927; see photograph-->), commemorating the flight there of Wilbur and Orville Wright (Wright, Wilbur and Orville) on December 17, 1903, the first powered airplane flight in the United States (see photograph). The name Kitty Hawk is probably derived from a Native American (Algonquian (Algonquian languages)) name recorded on maps of the early 1700s as Chickahauk; its meaning is uncertain.