1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Today is the anniversary of the Wright brothers 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: first controlled, powered sustained flight, which took place on the 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: outer banks of North Carolina in three So Today's Saturday 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,759 Speaker 1: classic is our episode five, First Flight, which talks about 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: the Wright brothers first flight, as well as the flights 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: of four other aviators. Near the beginning of this episode, 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: we note that the people were talking about it in 8 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: it are all men, but that we have a whole 9 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: section of our website devoted to women in aviation. Sadly, 10 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: the format of our website totally changed a few years ago. 11 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: We no longer have that round up page, but we 12 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: do still have all those episodes and they include people 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: like Jackie Cochrane, Harriet Quimby, Bessie Coleman, Beryl Markham, Lillian Bland, 14 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: the Night Witches, and the women Air Force Service pilots. 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: So enjoy Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: production of My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 17 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,119 Speaker 1: I'm Tray cy Vee Wilson and I'm Holly fry So, Holly, 18 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: you and I have been hosts of the show for 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: a little over four years. Now is that all actually? 20 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: Now that I think about it. Some patterns have emerged 21 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: in the comments that we get when we share stories 22 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: on particular topics over those UH coming up on five years, 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: like mentioning Paul Revere prompts comments about Sybil Lettington, who 24 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: we talked about in Six More Impossible episodes. UH posts 25 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: about George Gordon lord Byron usually get replies about his 26 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: daughter Ada Lovelace, who has also been the subject of 27 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: a past episode. UM. Anytime we post anything about the 28 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: Right Brothers, we get lots of comments about other people 29 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: who are not at the Right Brothers who we should 30 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: be talking about. Yeah, various levels from hey did you 31 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: know about too? You're horrible and you ignored these important people. Right. 32 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: So one reason for all these Right Brothers comments is 33 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: that the Right Brothers First has a lot of qualifiers 34 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: on it. People flew in balloons well before the Rights 35 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: took to the air in a plane. There were a 36 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,079 Speaker 1: lot of gliders before them, as well as including ones 37 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: that they designed while they were working toward powered flight. 38 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: Powered dirigibles also predate powered airplanes, and there were also 39 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: a lot of heavier than airplanes that managed to get 40 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: up off the ground, but not necessarily in a way 41 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: that you could describe as flying falling with style. Right. 42 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: So when people say that the Right Brothers were first 43 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: in quotation marks, uh, there's a series of very particular 44 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: circumstances we're talking about. We're talking about an aircraft heavier 45 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: than air that achieved a sustained and controlled and self 46 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: powered flight with a person on board. All that stuff together, 47 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: and really a lot of these distinctions are kind of arbitrary. 48 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: There's also some legitimate conversation to be had about just 49 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: how controlled the White Wright brothers first flights really were. Uh, 50 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: there was some careening involved in some cases. So we're 51 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: gonna talk about all of that today and some of 52 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: the other folks who come up pretty often as people 53 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: who maybe should be considered to have flown before the 54 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: Right Brothers. And we're going to say right from the 55 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: beginning that all the men that we're talking about today, 56 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: we're all really remarkable in their own way, regardless of 57 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: whether we get to say first before their achievement. And 58 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: we also want to know that even though the people 59 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: that we're talking about today are all men, we have 60 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: a whole women in Aviation tag on our website that 61 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: has lots of groundbreaking female aviators as well. We're not 62 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: leaving them out, but we're gonna art just as a 63 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,119 Speaker 1: level set with the Right Brothers. So even among people 64 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: who agree that they were first, there is still something 65 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: to disagree on, and that's whether Ohio, where the Right 66 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: Brothers were from, or North Carolina, where they refined their 67 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: glider designs and took their first powered flight, should get 68 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: most of the credit. Whether this interstate disagreement is good 69 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: natured or not really depends on who you ask. And 70 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: both states have references to flight, and the Right Brothers 71 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: flyer on their license plates and their state quarters. So 72 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers started experimenting with flight in the late 73 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties. Wilbert wrote to the Smithsonian and to ask 74 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: for all the prior research that they had on it, 75 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: saying that he was quote an enthusiast but not a 76 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: crank overall, though you know, aside from talking to the 77 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,280 Speaker 1: Smithsonian and whatnot, they were comparatively quiet about what they 78 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: were doing. Other innovators, including Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian. 79 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: We're making very public attempts at flight, and it was 80 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: actually Langley that the Smithsonian first supported as being able 81 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: to claim first flight status. The Right Brothers, on the 82 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: other hand, were tinkering, refining, and learning from their mistakes, 83 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: all without a lot of fanfare. This would become doubly 84 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: true after their first successful flight, at which point they 85 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 1: became very secretive, especially once they were embroiled in a 86 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: patent or over their flight control system. So the Right 87 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: Brothers shows the outer banks of North Carolina as their 88 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: testing ground because the constant wind helped with the lift. 89 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: They first refined the gliders that they were working on 90 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: until they were satisfied with their aerodynamics, and then they 91 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: turned their attention to power, developing a lightweight gasoline engine 92 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: UH and a propeller. The end result was the six 93 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: five pound eleven point eight one horsepower Flyer, which they 94 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: tried to use for a powered controlled flight with a 95 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: person on board on December fourteenth, three. This attempt at 96 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: kill Devil Hills with Wilbur flying did not go well UH. 97 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: Other than creating a wheeled undercarriage. They launched the flyer 98 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: from a wooden rail, which it traveled down on a 99 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: wheeled dolly on December fourteenth. Wilbur climbed too sharply after 100 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: leaving that rail, and the flyers stalled and crashed. They 101 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: had it repaired in time for another attempt on December three, 102 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: and at about ten thirty five in the morning, Orville 103 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: made a brief and as we noted at the top 104 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,160 Speaker 1: of the show, somewhat careening hundred and twenty ft or 105 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: thirty six meter flight stayed aloft for about twelve seconds. 106 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: They had set up a camera ahead of time, and 107 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 1: John T. Daniels activated the shutter to take the now 108 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: famous picture of the flyer aloft with Wilbur running alongside 109 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: of it. They tried three more times that day, taking turns, 110 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: with their best attempt being there last of the afternoon. 111 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: Wilbur flew eight hundred fifty nine feet that's about two 112 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two ms in just under a minute. 113 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: Then the flyer pitched and, in Orville's words quote, darted 114 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: into the ground. They sent their father a telegram that 115 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: night to tell him the news. Unfortunately, back in their 116 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: base camp, a gust of wind flipped the flyer over 117 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 1: and wrecked it, and at that point it was too 118 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: badly damaged to be easily repaired, so that put a 119 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: temporary into their attempts at flight. The Rights kept refining 120 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: and improving their designs from there, testing and making adjustments 121 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,239 Speaker 1: as they went. On October five, n five, they flew 122 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: thirty eight kilometers near Dayton, Ohio in the right flyer three. 123 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: This was its own type of first a flight measured 124 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: in kilometers instead of meters was a feat at the time. 125 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: Next we are going to talk about perhaps the rights 126 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: most fanciful challengers was self taught French engineer and aviator 127 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: at Claimant Adair. He was born on February four, eight 128 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: forty one, and like a lot of the other early aviators, 129 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: he got his start with ballooning. He made his first 130 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: heavier than aircraft in eighteen seventy three, which was hold 131 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: on a tether kind of like a kite. He also 132 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: studied birds and bats, and they would go on to 133 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: influence his aircraft designs. Adair's first powered aircraft was a 134 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: monoplane that he named Aol after al of Greek mythology, 135 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: and he was granted a patent for it on August eleven. 136 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: On October nine, eighteen ninety, it left the ground and 137 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: moved about a hundred and sixty five feet that's about 138 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: fifty meters. But this wasn't really so much a flight 139 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: as it was a hop he'd successfully made a vessel 140 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: that could go in the air and come back down, 141 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: but it couldn't stay in the air in any sort 142 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: of meaningful way. There claimed he made another more successful 143 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: attempt in September of the following year, although historians generally 144 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: doubt that that one actually happened. In eight two, a 145 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: Day was granted a subsidy from the French Minister of 146 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: War to work on another aircraft. The result, after a 147 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: couple of iterations, was the Avian three, an another monoplane 148 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: with twin twenty horsepower steam engines with foot pedals to 149 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: control the rudder, the rear wheels, and the speed of 150 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: the propellers. There was also a crank that could change 151 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: the positioning of the wings. This aircraft never really made 152 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 1: it off the ground. On October twel it traveled around 153 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: a circular track in Satsori, France, but it never really 154 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: lifted off. It did briefly come off the track during 155 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,079 Speaker 1: a test on October four, but it didn't remain airborne. 156 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: This was you could imagine as like if something hit 157 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: a hit a bump and sort of leapt up in 158 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: the air. It was that level of yeah, because this 159 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: project was being funded by the Ministry of War. The 160 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: government had a representative witnessing these tests, and that general's 161 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: assessment that witnessed them was that though the Avon three 162 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: had not successfully flown, those tests should continue. The Ministry 163 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: of War disagreed and it cut its losses at sixty 164 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: thousand francs. The avance he eventually made its way to 165 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: Muse desal Emitier in Paris, but in nineteen o six, 166 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: out Berto Santos Dumont, who you're going to talk about next, 167 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: made Europe's first public airplane flight. So claiment and air 168 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: was really frustrated that he had not gotten here first, 169 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: and he started claiming that he had made a successful 170 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: flight aboard the Avian three, having gone at least three 171 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,840 Speaker 1: or ninety meters during those October fourteenth tests. He offered 172 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: no substantiation for this claim, though, and it directly contradicted 173 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: what the general had reported. Flight historians generally agree that 174 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: this is a fabrication, trying to get in on that 175 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: um that's sweet, sweet first money. Of all the aircraft 176 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: that we're talking about today, Adairs looked the least like 177 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: a conventional airplane. He fashioned his with wings pattern after 178 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: a bat and the avy On three's propeller blades looked 179 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: like feathers. It looks like if a tiny race of 180 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: forest creatures in a video game tried to make an airplane, 181 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: which to me sounds delightful and I wish they all 182 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: looked that way. It is pretty delightful. There will be 183 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: a picture of it as part of the art for 184 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: this on our website. So it doesn't appear that he 185 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: ever actually made a successful sustained flight, but he did 186 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: succeed and innovated in other areas, including in telephone technology. 187 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: He gave a demonstration of his stereo telephone device at 188 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: Paris Exposition of Electricity and he earned a patent for it. 189 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: Later that same year. Adair died into Lose a March 190 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 1: fifth n So next we are going to get to another, uh, 191 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: pretty fascinating character. That is Alberto Santos Dumont. We're going 192 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: to talk about that after a break. Unlike Claiman Adair, who, 193 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, was self taught, Alberto Santos Dumont 194 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: was formally try in physics and mechanics, as well as 195 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,679 Speaker 1: in chemistry and an astronomy. He was born in Brazil 196 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: on July seventy three, and he was the son of 197 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 1: a wealthy coffee planter. When he was eighteen, he went 198 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: to Paris to study. He was twenty five when he 199 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,200 Speaker 1: started experimenting with ballooning, making his first ascent in Paris 200 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: on July four in a balloon he had named Brazil, 201 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: and he quickly started trying to figure out how to 202 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: build a practical balloon that could be steered so. At 203 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: that point, as you may recall from our numerous episodes 204 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: on balloon ing, most balloons could change altitudes, but they 205 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: were really at the mercy of the wind when it 206 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: came to the direction of their travel. Figuring out how 207 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: to make a reliably steerable balloon required him to rethink 208 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: basically everything from the shape of the balloon itself, to 209 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: the materials it was made up, to the system used 210 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: to steer, to the engine used to drive it. He 211 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: wound up designing his own three point five horsepower gasoline 212 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: powered internal combustion in that being one that was safe 213 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,439 Speaker 1: enough to use an hydrogen filled bag of gas, which 214 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: at the time was quite a feat like making an 215 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: internal combustion engine that was was safe enough and reliable 216 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: enough to not set that bag of gas on fire. 217 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: Was a big deal, and the Santos Dumont number one, 218 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: his first attempt at a steered balloon, ascended on September eighteenth. 219 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: He tinkered with the design and the Santos Dumont number 220 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: three ascended on November eighteen ninety. He was able to 221 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: steer it around the Eiffel Tower several times before landing. 222 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: On October nineteenth, nineteen o one, the Santos Dumont number 223 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: six took off from Saint Cloud, circled the Eiffel Tower 224 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,680 Speaker 1: and returned, and under thirty minutes was earned the Aero 225 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,839 Speaker 1: Club of France's Deutsch Prize, which had been announced more 226 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,679 Speaker 1: than a year before in an effort to inspire aeronautical innovation. 227 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: This prize, which I mean this was an accomplishment for sure. 228 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: They basically this prize at a hundred thousand francs, which 229 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 1: they did because they didn't think it was actually possible 230 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: that anybody would pull it off. So he won that 231 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: prize and distributed a quarter of it to his crew 232 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:14,160 Speaker 1: and then gave the rest of it to the Parisian poor. 233 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: And at first they actually tried to deny him the 234 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: prize because it took a minute in twenty five seconds 235 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: to secure the aircraft at the finish line, putting the 236 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: trek just over that thirty minute mark. He offered to 237 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: do the whole thing over again, and the judging committee 238 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 1: ultimately reversed their decision. So this was the first really 239 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: effective demonstration of a practical airship. Previous attempts at airships 240 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: had been a lot more limited than this design. But 241 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: after this success, Santos S. Dumont decided that dirigibles were 242 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: way too influenced by weather condition to ever by weather 243 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: conditions to ever become a truly workable method of transportation. 244 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: So he turned his attention to heavier than airplanes. So 245 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: back in Brazil he did the fourteen bees or if 246 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: you're looking at its fourteen dash b I s and 247 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: that's a boxy looking biplane with a twenty four horsepower motor. 248 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: It looked boxy because it was designed from box kites, 249 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: and unlike the Wright brothers who used a wooden launching 250 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: rail to become airborne, he wanted to make an aircraft 251 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: that could take off under its own means. His first 252 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: attempt to do so, in July of nineteen o six failed. 253 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: Another attempt on September seven barely left the ground, and 254 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: then a few days later he made it a meter 255 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: off the ground. And every time he would sort of 256 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: address the problems that came up. Whatever he discovered that 257 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 1: seemed like it was preventing him from reaching its successful flight, 258 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: he would refine the design and then he would try again. 259 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: On October twenty three, nineteen o six, the fourteen Bees 260 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: took off, traveled about sixty meters at about three ft 261 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: in the air, and then landed. A flight on November twelve, 262 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: nineteen o six, flew two and twenty. Both of these 263 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: were obviously after the December seventeen three Right Brothers flight, 264 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: and he was in fact inspired by that success. The 265 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: reason that people point to Alberto Santos Dumont over the 266 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: Right Brothers is that this whole distinction of the wheeled 267 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: undercarriage on the fourteen Beasts versus the wooden launching rail 268 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: that the Right flyer was using. The argument is that 269 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: the Rights flyer doesn't count because the plane relied on 270 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: separate pieces to take off rather than an integrated set 271 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: of wheels that were actually part of the aircraft. They're 272 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: also some very passionate Santos Dumont supporters who argue that 273 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: the rights didn't fly in three at all, suggesting that 274 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: all their secrecy was really a cover up, and that 275 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: there continued use of a launching rail was evidence that 276 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: they had never really perfected their earlier designs. So I 277 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: don't know if I would go so far as to 278 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: say that's accurate, But in terms of this was a 279 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: self contained aircraft that took off an or its own 280 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: power rather than using a launching rail I got in 281 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: my opinion is that actually has some merit. Yeah. Santos 282 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: Dumont didn't stop with the fourteen Bees. He went on 283 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: to design the Demoisille or Dragonfly, a practical light aircraft, 284 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: and he published the plans for anyone to use to 285 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: build their own. But in nineteen ten he was seriously 286 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: hurt in a plane crash, and that led to him 287 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: having a number of ongoing physical issues and it kept 288 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: him from ever flying again. He had also genuinely, passionately 289 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: loved flight, and he was terribly dismayed at the growing 290 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: use of aircraft in warfare, and he was especially upset 291 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: by because he felt like he was personally responsible. There 292 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,360 Speaker 1: had been so many developments and aviation that were either 293 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: his or that built off of work that he had done, 294 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: and in addition to the lingering effects of the nineteen 295 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,679 Speaker 1: ten crash, he also became seriously ill. He died by 296 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: suicide on July twenty thirty two. In addition to the 297 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: aviation awards he earned during his lifetime, he was a 298 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: charismatic showman who became something of a celebrity. Contemporary accounts 299 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: also describe him as flamboyant and somewhat feminine, and there's 300 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: been some speculation about what his sexual orientation might have been. Today, 301 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: he is still a highly revered figure in Brazil, known 302 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,959 Speaker 1: as the father of the Brazilian Air Force. Multiple roads 303 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: and schools, as well as the town he was born in, 304 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: have been named after him. Now we will move on 305 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: to Richard Pierce, who, for our first year or so 306 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: on the show was the person most often mentioned when 307 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 1: we brought up the Right Brothers. He was a New 308 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,919 Speaker 1: Zealand aviation pioneer born on December three, eight seventy seven. 309 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: He was a mostly self taught inventor and farmer, and 310 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: he was granted his first patent in nineteen o two 311 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: for a new style of bicycle that used pedals that 312 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: you pushed up and down rather than in a circle. 313 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: He invented a lot of other devices to including a 314 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: potato planter and a needle threader. Thinking about what it 315 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:04,679 Speaker 1: would be like to ride a bike where you had 316 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: to push the pedals up and down. It's kind of 317 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: like a StairMaster bike. That seems sort of mean, but 318 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: probably not. He was also working on ideas for powered flight. 319 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: His first airplane design was a low profile monoplane made 320 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: of bamboo wire, canvas and steel tubing. On his first 321 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 1: attempt to fly it, he took off from the road 322 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: adjacent to his farm on the South Island. He flew 323 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: fifty yards or so and then he crashed into a 324 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: gorse fence. So there were some witnesses to this flight. 325 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 1: It definitely happened, but the details aren't recorded in any 326 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: kind of official account, so there has been a whole 327 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: lot of debate about exactly when this flight happened. Pierce 328 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: was a bit of a loner. He never married, there 329 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: weren't really people that he talked to day to day 330 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,640 Speaker 1: about his work, and he also didn't keep a lot 331 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: of written records or notes. Then most cases, when it 332 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: comes to things that he worked on. Patent applications are 333 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: the only maaning documentation of what he was doing, and 334 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: this is also why we have way less to share 335 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: about his process than most of the other aviators were 336 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: talking about today. Much later, in nineteen fifteen and nineteen eighteen, 337 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: he wrote two different letters in which he remembered the 338 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,360 Speaker 1: flying having happened in February or March of nineteen o four. 339 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: Researchers reconstructed various bits of eyewitness testimony to arrive at 340 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: a date of March thirty one, nineteen o three, although 341 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: some have also argued that it was actually in nineteen 342 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: o two. And this is why for the first year 343 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: or so after we joined the show, he was the 344 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: person so often cited as a counter argument to the 345 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: Right brothers. However, in fourteen, while doing while doing research 346 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: for a book on Pierce aviation, historian Errol Martin found 347 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: an old article published in the Timoroo Post on November 348 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: seventeenth of nineteen o nine, and in this article, Pierce 349 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: himself contractor x the idea that he was flying anywhere 350 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: close to the time that the Wright brothers did. As 351 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: he said to the reporter quote, I did not attempt 352 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,440 Speaker 1: anything practical with the idea until in nineteen o four 353 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 1: the St. Louis Exposition authorities offered a prize of twenty 354 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: thousand dollars to the men to the man who invented 355 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: and flew a flying machine over a specified course. I 356 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,400 Speaker 1: did not, as you know, succeed in winning the prize. 357 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 1: Neither did anybody. He went on to describe some tests 358 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: of the machine that he was currently working on, a 359 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: comparatively lightweight craft powered by a twenty five horsepower engine 360 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: that he had designed himself, along with the rest of 361 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: the planes components. Even the tests that he described to 362 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,879 Speaker 1: this reporter were more like hops than true sustained flight, 363 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: and Errol Martin suspected that the reason that the nineteen 364 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: o two or nineteen o three date persisted for as 365 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 1: long as it did was because people were looking for 366 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,159 Speaker 1: substantiation that that flight occurred somewhere around that time, not 367 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: six or seven years later. Pierce himself also said that 368 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 1: he didn't fly before the Right brothers, and that he 369 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: became motivated to work on his own aircraft after their successes. 370 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: So the counter argument that we've heard most often in 371 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: response to Richard Pierce saying that he had not beaten 372 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: the right brothers was that he was just being nice. 373 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:30,680 Speaker 1: He may have been lovely, he may have just been 374 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: being nice. But like, that's not a very substantive counter argument, right, uh. 375 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:41,199 Speaker 1: And Pierce died in christ Church on July. Most of 376 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: the other men we've talked about today wound up influencing 377 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: the greater field of aviation in some way, regardless of 378 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: whether their attempts at controlled powered flight were really all 379 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: that successful. And this was less true for Richard Pierce, 380 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: but it was only because being in New Zealand put 381 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: him really far away from where most of that work 382 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: was happening. His plane, though, was pretty sophisticated for the time. 383 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 1: It had wing flaps, a rear elevator and a wheeled 384 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:13,159 Speaker 1: steerable undercarriage and a propeller with variable pitch blades. Because 385 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: he was so physically removed for most of the other 386 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: people physically doing this work, though not a lot of 387 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: people who were trying to come up with workable aircraft 388 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 1: actually saw it or got to learn from it. Yeah, 389 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: it makes you wonder if he were closer to those people, 390 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: if his innovations wouldn't have accelerated the development of flight 391 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: in a very serious way, and for a time after 392 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,439 Speaker 1: his death, Pierce's work was nearly forgotten. Fortunately, knowledge of 393 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,199 Speaker 1: his efforts did survive. An auctioneer offered his last plane 394 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: to the Canterbury Aero Club, and aviation engineer George Bolt 395 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: later bought it and donated it to the Museum of 396 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: Transport and Technology in Auckland, where a replica is now 397 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: part of their collection. Although it seems unlikely that Pierce 398 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: achieved true sustained flight in his aircraft, modern replicas word 399 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: with ultralight aircraft engines has been capable of flight. So 400 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: we're going to take one more quick sponsor break before 401 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: we talk about our last first flight, which was by 402 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: Gustav Whitehead. So in a weird little irony, Gustav Whitehead 403 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: is not the name who is most often tossed out 404 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: when we mentioned the right brothers, but he is the 405 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: aviation pioneer who has gotten a lot of the most 406 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: first in flight attention in recent years, particularly in the 407 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: United States. He was born on January one, eighteen seventy four, 408 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: and immigrated to the United States from Bavaria. He settled 409 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: in Connecticut and changed his surname to Whitehead. From Viskoff. 410 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: The idea that Whitehead might have flown first has come 411 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,719 Speaker 1: up periodically since the nineteen teens, and the most recent 412 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: big wave of attention came inten and that's when editor 413 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: Paul Jackson endorsed the idea that the credit should go 414 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: to Whitehead in the centennial edition of Jane's All the 415 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: World's Aircraft. Australian John Brown launched the website Gustav dash 416 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: whitehead dot com that same year, laying out various pieces 417 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: of evidence that Whitehead was the first to fly, including 418 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: what's purportedly a piece of photographic evidence. So here are 419 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: the claims. On August eighth, n O one, the Bridgeports 420 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,440 Speaker 1: Sunday Harold reported that Whitehead had made a half mile 421 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: flight four days before on August fourteen, aboard a very 422 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: bird like monoplane known as Number twenty one, and as 423 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,959 Speaker 1: still happens today, other publications picked up this story and 424 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: mirrored it in their own pages without doing any additional 425 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: reporting of their own on it. This report listed to 426 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: ben as having helped Whitehead in this effort, and those 427 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: were James Dickey and Andrew Seeley. In an article in 428 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: American Inventor published April first nineteen o two, Whitehead himself 429 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 1: also claimed to have flown for several miles over Long 430 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: Island on January seventeenth of that year. He claimed that 431 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 1: flight and another shorter one took place on the same day. 432 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: From there, Whitehead made a failed bid to enter an 433 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: aircraft in the aeronautical competition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition 434 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: in St. Louis in nineteen o four. That was the 435 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: same one that Richard Pierce referenced in his nineteen o 436 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: nine newspaper interview. Whitehead built several other aircraft between nineteen 437 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: o six and nineteen o nine, none of which, ever, 438 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:38,199 Speaker 1: apparently flew. When a Scientific American reporter visited him in 439 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: nineteen o three, he was actually working on a glider 440 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: and not on a powered aircraft. There were doubts about 441 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,919 Speaker 1: his claims even at the time. A much different article 442 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: appeared in the Bridgeport Evening Farmer in nineteen o two, 443 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 1: titled Unrealized Dreams Last Flop of the Whitehead Flying Machine. 444 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 1: It detailed the various grapes of Whitehead's financial backer, Herman Lindy, 445 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: who had invested six thousand dollars in two machines and 446 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: was disappointed in the fact that neither of them could 447 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: actually fly. The Bridgeport Post published a similar critical article 448 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: on the same day. Whitehead died on October tenth, and 449 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: then in the nineteen thirties, somebody stumbled over that initial 450 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,880 Speaker 1: article that had reported that he had a successful flight, 451 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: so people started trying to track down confirmation of whether 452 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: he had flown or not. Andrew Seely could not be 453 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: located when he wasn't listed in any local directories. They did, however, 454 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: find James Dickey, who not only said he had not 455 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: witnessed the flight, but also said he was not even there. 456 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: He did not know any Andrew Seeley, and he had 457 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: never even heard of any flight and that or any 458 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: other Whitehead aircraft. When an interviewer tracked him down in 459 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, he said, quote, I believe the entire 460 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: story of the Herald was imaginary and grew out of 461 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: the comments white had discussing what he hoped to get 462 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,879 Speaker 1: from his plane. It's also impossible to go back and 463 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: review Whitehead's notes and schematics to try to replicate his 464 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,119 Speaker 1: aircraft and see if it actually worked, because he didn't 465 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: leave any A few photographs do exist of his nineteen 466 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: o one machine, although all of those show it on 467 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: the ground and not in the air. No photograph is 468 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,679 Speaker 1: known to exist in the machine that purportedly flew several 469 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: miles in nineteen o two, and no photographs exist of 470 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: one of his aircraft in flight. There are photos of 471 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,479 Speaker 1: an unpowered glider as well as one that was flown 472 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: without a person aboard. This new in quotation Mark's photo 473 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: evidence that was alluded to is a really heavily enlarged 474 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: detail of an exhibition that was shown at the Aero 475 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: Club of America in January nineteen o six. This vastly 476 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 1: zoomed in on picture shows a white blob shaped roughly 477 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 1: like one of Whitehead's airplanes when viewed from above. People 478 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: looking to support Whitehead's claims did interview a number of 479 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: witnesses between nineteen thirty four and nineteen seventy four. However, 480 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: their statements contradict one another or they're demonstrably false, and 481 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: at least one of them was paid to give that story. 482 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: All of those statements were documented at least thirty years 483 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:23,960 Speaker 1: after the flight purportedly took place, and meanwhile, his family, employers, 484 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: financial backers, and other people who were working in the 485 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: field of aeronautics at the time generally agree that none 486 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: of his planes ever left the ground. Yeah, accurately reconstructing 487 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: exactly when something happened thirty years or more after it happened, 488 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: when there's not anything actually written down about it to 489 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: jog your memory. That's kind of a tall order. So 490 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: in the Smithsonian published a number of lengthy rebuttals of 491 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: all the various Whitehead evidence, and then Scientific American did 492 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: as well, refuting Whitehead supporters use of its own past 493 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: reporting is support for their claims. So people, basically we're 494 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: pointing to old Scientific American articles being like, well, right there, 495 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: it says that he flew, and then Scientific American was like, actually, 496 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: that's not what it says. Supporters often claim that the 497 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: only reason that the Smithsonian won't seriously consider the possibility 498 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: of Whitehead beating the Right Brothers Too Powered flight is 499 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: that the contract they signed for the flyer specifies that 500 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: they won't display a challenge to the Right Brothers claim 501 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: to be first. But, as quoted in The Economist, aeronautics 502 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: curator Tom Crouch said, quote, should persuasive evidence for a 503 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: prior flight be presented, My colleagues and I would have 504 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: the courage and honesty to admit the new evidence and 505 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:50,920 Speaker 1: risk the loss of the right flyer. This whole disagreement 506 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: did basically lead Ohio and North Carolina to put aside 507 00:30:55,560 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: their differences and basically both say not Connecticut. Though. One 508 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: of the things that gets pointed to a lot in 509 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: this whole thing is like, look at how many other 510 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: articles say this happened. They can't all be wrong, but 511 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: like they're all articles that are spawned from one account. Yeah, 512 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: they're all reporting one article, which continues to be an 513 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,920 Speaker 1: issue in media today when one thing will come out 514 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: and a bunch of other people will re report that 515 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: one thing without doing any additional reporting on their own, 516 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: and then like there's now there's a story that's faults 517 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: and everyone believes it. Fay so much for joining us 518 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. 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