KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. — Five years after the first flight in North Carolina, Wilbur Wright staged a flight in France that finally convinced a skeptical public on both sides of the Atlantic that humans really could fly.

Now French citizens from Le Mans — where Wright made that two-minute journey on Aug. 8, 1908 — want to commemorate its 100th anniversary. Several visited the Outer Banks last week to launch the effort to commemorate aviation's worldwide coming-of-age.

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Larry Tise, Wilbur and Orville Wright visiting professor at East Carolina University, accompanied the group as it explored the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Kitty Hawk, with which the visitors agreed to establish a sister-city relationship.

"In a way, Orville and Wilbur meant more to the people in France than they did over here," Tise said. "In essence what they did in Europe was to reawaken the interest in flight, which had been at a low ebb. There were a lot of people flying in 1908, but they were flying 100 yards. When they flew, the interest in flying in Europe immediately galvanized."

The visitors knew the story well. Wilbur and Orville Wright, two bicycle-building brothers from Ohio, brought their dreams of flight to Kill Devil Hills, a barren stretch of sand dunes a few miles south of the village of Kitty Hawk.

On Dec. 17, 1903, with Orville as the pilot and Wilbur holding the right wing for balance, the 600-pound plane rose 10 feet into the air and traveled about 120 feet in 12 seconds.

Tise said the only article written by an eyewitness for almost two years was published in the Beekeepers Journal. But when the brothers returned in 1908 with an improved plane, a group of reporters hiding in the bushes spread the word worldwide.

When Wilbur Wright arrived soon after in France, Leon Bollee — a car manufacturer who was the French sponsor of the brothers — had arranged for him to demonstrate flight near the Le Mans racetrack provided mechanics to help him.

Until then, neither of the notoriously secretive brothers had flown in a public setting.

A small crowd watched from the bleachers on the clear August day when Wilbur first flew the aircraft, banking it smoothly in two complete figure eights. Expecting the machine to fly straight ahead, the onlookers were astounded to see the plane curve through the air.

Within days, the audience grew from 100 to 2,000 to 10,000, Tise told the group, which included Bollee's grandnephew, Gerard.

Bollee, who is almost 80 years old, has hundreds of family papers and photographs that document the relationship between Leon Bollee and the Ohio brothers. Bollee has recently donated some of the collection, most of which has never been seen outside the family, to The Library of Congress and the Outer Banks History Center.

A test flight of a reproduction of the Wright Model A is planned next month in Le Mans, Tise said. The plane has been built and paid for by volunteers.