1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Before we get started today, we want to 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,480 Speaker 1: make sure everyone knows about our upcoming live shows. First up, 3 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: Holly will be at Salt Lake Comic Con September one, three. 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: I won't be able to make it to that one, 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: so past guest and friend of the show, Brian Young 6 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: will be talking with her about Lawn Cheney. Then on 7 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: October six pm, we will be appearing as part of 8 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: New York Comic Con Presents, and we'll be talking about 9 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: the first comic book. You can find out more information 10 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: on all of this ticket links everything like that if 11 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: you go to missed in History dot com and click 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: the link that says live shows. Welcome to steph you 13 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: missed in History class from how Stuff Works dot com. 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tray C. V. 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Fry So, Holly, you and I 16 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: have been hosts of the show for a little over 17 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: four years now Is that all? Actually? Now that I 18 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: think about it, some patterns have emerged in the comments 19 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: that we get when we share stories on particular topics 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: over those uh coming up on five years, like mentioning 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: Paul Revere prompts comments about Sybil Lettington, who we talked 22 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: about in Six More Impossible Episodes. UH. Posts about George 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: Gordon Lord Byron usually get replies about his daughter Ada Lovelace, 24 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: who has also been the subject of a past episode. UM. 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: Anytime we post anything about the Right Brothers, we get 26 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: lots of comments about other people who are not the 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: Right Brothers, who we should be talking about. Yeah, various 28 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: levels from hey did you know about two? You're horrible 29 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: and you ignored these important people. Right. So, one reason 30 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: for all these Right Brothers comments is that the Right 31 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,519 Speaker 1: Brothers first has a lot of qualifiers on it. People 32 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: flew in balloons well before the Rights took to the 33 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: air in a plane. There were a lot of gliders 34 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: before them, as well as including ones that they designed 35 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: while they were working toward powered flight. Powered dirigibles also 36 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: predate powered airplanes, and there were also a lot of 37 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: heavier than airplanes that managed to get up off the ground, 38 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: but not necessarily in a way that you could describe 39 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: as flying, its falling with style. Right. So, when people 40 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: say that the Right Brothers were first in quotation marks, Uh, 41 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: there's a series of very particular circumstances we're talking about. 42 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: We're talking about an aircraft heavier than air that achieved 43 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: a sustained and controlled and self powered flight with a 44 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: person on board. All that stuff together and really a 45 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: lot of these distinctions are kind of arbitrary. There's also 46 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: some legitimate conversation to be had about just how controlled 47 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: the White Wright brothers first flights really were. Uh, there 48 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: was some careening involved in some cases. So we're gonna 49 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: talk about all of that today and some of the 50 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: other folks who come up pretty often as people who 51 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: maybe shouldn't be considered to have flown before the Right brothers. 52 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: And we're going to say right from the beginning that 53 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: all the men that we're talking about today, we're all 54 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: really remarkable in their own way, regardless of whether we 55 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: get to say first before their achievement. And we also 56 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: want to know that even though the people that we're 57 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: talking about today are all men, we have a whole 58 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: women in Aviation tag on our website that has lots 59 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: of groundbreaking female aviators as well. We're not leaving them out, 60 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: but we're gonna start just as a level set with 61 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: the Wright brothers. So even among people who agree that 62 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: they were first, there is still something to disagree on. 63 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: And that's whether Ohio, where the Wright brothers were from, 64 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: or North Carolina, where they refined their glider designs and 65 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: took their first powered flight, should get most of the credit. 66 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: Whether this interstate disagreement is good natured or not really 67 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: depends on who you ask. And both states have references 68 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: to flight, and the Right brothers flyer on their license 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: plates and their state quarters. So the Right Brothers started 70 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: experimenting with flight in the late eight nineties. Wilbert wrote 71 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: to the Smithsonian and to ask for all the prior 72 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: research that they had on it, saying that he was 73 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: quote an enthusiast but not a crank overall, though you know, 74 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: aside from talking to the Smithsonian and whatnot, they were 75 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: comparatively quiet about what they were doing. Other innovators, including 76 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian. We're making very public attempts 77 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: at flight, And it was actually Langley that the Smithsonian 78 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: first supported as being able to claim first flight status. 79 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: The Right brothers, on the other hand, were tinkering, refining, 80 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: and learning from their mistakes, all without a lot of fanfare. 81 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: This would be come doubly true after their first successful flight, 82 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: at which point they became very secretive, especially once they 83 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: were embroiled in a patent or over their flight control system. 84 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: So the Right Brothers shows the outer banks of North 85 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: Carolina as their testing ground because the constant wind helped 86 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: with the lift. They first refined the gliders that they 87 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: were working on until they were satisfied with their aerodynamics, 88 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: and then they turned their attention to power, developing a 89 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: lightweight gasoline engine UH and a propeller. The end result 90 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,479 Speaker 1: was the six five pound eleven point eight one horsepower Flyer, 91 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,799 Speaker 1: which they tried to use for a powered controlled flight 92 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: with the person on board on December fourteenth three. This 93 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: attempt at kill Devil Hills with Wilbur flying did not 94 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 1: go well. Rather than creating a wheeled undercarriage, they launched 95 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: the flyer from a wooden rail, which it traveled down 96 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: on a wheeled dolly On December fourteenth, Wilbur climbed too 97 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: sharply after leaving that rail, and the flyers stall and crashed. 98 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: They had it repaired in time for another attempt on 99 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: December three, and at about ten thirty five in the morning, 100 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: Orville made a brief and, as we noted at the 101 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: top of the show, somewhat careening hundred and twenty ft 102 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: or thirty six meter flight stayed aloft for about twelve seconds. 103 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: They had set up a camera ahead of time, and 104 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: John T. Daniels activated the shutter to take the now 105 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,799 Speaker 1: famous picture of the flyer aloft with Wilbur running alongside 106 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: of it. They tried three more times that day taking turns, 107 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: with their best attempt being there last of the afternoon. 108 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: Wilbur flew eight hundred fifty nine feet that's about two 109 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two in just under a minute. Then 110 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: the flyer pitched and, in Orville's words quote darted into 111 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: the ground. They sent their father a telegram that night 112 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: to tell him the news. Unfortunately, back in their base camp, 113 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: a gust of wind flipped the flyer over and wrecked it, 114 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: and at that point it was too badly damaged to 115 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: be easily repaired, so that put a temporary end to 116 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: their attempts at flight. The Rights kept refining and improving 117 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: their designs from there, testing and making adjustments as they went. 118 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: On October five, n o five, they flew thirty eight 119 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: kilometers near Dayton, Ohio in the right Flyer three. This 120 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: was its own type of first a flight measured in 121 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: kilometers instead of meters was a feat at the time. 122 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: Next we are going to talk about perhaps the rights 123 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: most fanciful challengers was self taught French engineer and aviator 124 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: Claimant Adair. He was born on February four, eighteen forty one, 125 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: and like a lot of the other early aviators, he 126 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: got his start with ballooning. He made his first heavier 127 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: than aircraft in eighteen seventy three, which was pulled on 128 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: a tether, kind of like a kite. He also studied 129 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: birds and bats, and they would go on to influence 130 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: his aircraft designs. Adair's first powered aircraft was a monoplane 131 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: that he named aol after Ale of Greek mythology, and 132 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: he was granted a patent for it on August eleven. 133 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: On October nine, eight ninety it left the ground and 134 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: moved about a hundred and sixty five feet that's about 135 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: fifty meters, But this wasn't really so much a flight 136 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: as it was a hop. He'd successfully made a vessel 137 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: that could go in the air and come back down, 138 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: but it couldn't stay in the air in any sort 139 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: of meaningful way. They're claimed. He made another more successful 140 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 1: attempt in September of the following year, although historians generally 141 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: doubt that one actually happened. In a day, was granted 142 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: a subsidy from the French Minister of War to work 143 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:44,719 Speaker 1: on another aircraft. The result, after a couple of iterations, 144 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: was the Avian three, another monoplane with twin twenty horsepower 145 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: steam engines with foot pedals to control the rudder, the 146 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: rear wheels, and the speed of the propellers. There was 147 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 1: also a crank that could change the positioning of the wings. 148 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: Because aircraft never really made it off the ground. On 149 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:07,199 Speaker 1: October twelfth, it traveled around a circular track in Sassory, France, 150 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,839 Speaker 1: but it never really lifted off. It did briefly come 151 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: off the track during a test on October fourteenth, but 152 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: it didn't remain airborne. This was you could imagine, It's 153 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: like if something hit a hit a bump and sort 154 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: of leapt up in the air. It was that level 155 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: of yea. Because this project was being funded by the 156 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: Ministry of War, the government had a representative witnessing these tests, 157 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 1: and that general's assessment that witnessed them was that though 158 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 1: the Aviano three had not successfully flown, those tests should continue. 159 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: The Ministry of War disagreed, and it cut its losses 160 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: at sixty five thousand francs. The Avon three eventually made 161 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: its way to Muse desu Amitier in Paris. But in 162 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: nineteen o six, Alberto Santos Dumont, who you're going to 163 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: talk about next, made Europe's first public airplane flight. So 164 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: clament and Air was really frustrated that he had not 165 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: gotten here first, and he started claiming that he had 166 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: made a successful flight aboard the Avian three, having gone 167 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: at least three or ninety meters during those October fourteen tests. 168 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: He offered no substantiation for this claim, though, and it 169 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: directly contradicted what the General had reported. Flight historians generally 170 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: agree that this is a fabrication trying to get in 171 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,199 Speaker 1: on that um that's sweet, sweet first money. Of all 172 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: the aircraft that we're talking about today, Adairs looked the 173 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: least like a conventional airplane. He fashioned his with wings 174 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: pattern after a bat, and the avy On three's propeller 175 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: blades looked like feathers. It looks like if a tiny 176 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: race of forest creatures in a video game tried to 177 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: make an airplane which to me sounds delightful and I 178 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: wish they all looked that way. It is pretty delightful. 179 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: There will be a picture of it as part of 180 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: the art for this on our website. So it doesn't 181 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: appear that he ever actually made a successful sustained flight, 182 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: but he did succeed in innovated in other areas, including 183 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: in telephone technology. He gave a demonstration of his stereo 184 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: telephone device at the one Paris Exposition of Electricity, and 185 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: he earned a patent for it later that same year. 186 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 1: Adair died into lose a March fifth, ninet. So next 187 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: we are going to get to another, uh, pretty fascinating character. 188 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: That is Alberto Santos Dumont. We're gonna talk about that 189 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:40,079 Speaker 1: after a break. Unlike claimant Adair, who, as we said earlier, 190 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: was self taught, Alberto Santos Dumont was formally trained in 191 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: physics and mechanics, as well as in chemistry and an astronomy. 192 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: He was born in Brazil on July seventy three, and 193 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: he was the son of a wealthy coffee planter. When 194 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: he was eighteen, he went to Paris to study. He 195 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 1: was twenty five when he started experimenting ballooning, making his 196 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: first ascent in Paris on July four in a balloon 197 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: he had named Brazil, and he quickly started trying to 198 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: figure out how to build a practical balloon that could 199 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: be steered. So at that point, as you may recall 200 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: from our numerous episodes on balloon ing, most balloons could 201 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: change altitudes, but they were really at the mercy of 202 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: the wind when it came to the direction of their travel. 203 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: Figuring out how to make a reliably steerable balloon required 204 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,599 Speaker 1: him to rethink basically everything from the shape of the 205 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: balloon itself, to the materials it was made up, to 206 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: the system used to steer, to the engine used to 207 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: drive it. He wound up designing his own three point 208 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: five horsepower gasoline powered internal combustion engine, that being one 209 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: that was safe enough to use an hydrogen filled bag 210 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:52,079 Speaker 1: of gas, which at the time was quite a feat like. 211 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: Making an internal combustion engine that was was safe enough 212 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: and reliable enough to not set that bag of gas 213 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: on fire was a big deal, and the Santos Dumont 214 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 1: number one, his first attempt at a steered balloon, ascended 215 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: on September eighteenth. He tinkered with the design and the 216 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 1: Santos Dumont number three ascended on November eighteen nine. He 217 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: was able to steer it around the Eiffel Tower several 218 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: times before landing. On October nineteenth, nineteen o one, the 219 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: Santos Dumont number six took off from Saint Cloud, circled 220 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: the Eiffel Tower and returned, and under thirty minutes was 221 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: earned the Aero Club of Francis Deutsch prize, which had 222 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: been announced more than a year before in an effort 223 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: to inspire aeronautical innovation. This prize, which I mean this 224 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: was an accomplishment for sure. They basically set this prize 225 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: at a hundred thousand francs, which they did because they 226 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: didn't think it was actually possible that anybody would pull 227 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: it off. So he won that prize and distributed a 228 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: quarter of it to his crew and then gave the 229 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: rest of it to the Parisian poor. And at first 230 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: they actually tried to deny him the prize because it 231 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: took a minute in twenty five seconds to secure the 232 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: aircraft at the finish line, putting the trek just over 233 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: that thirty minute mark. He offered to do the whole 234 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: thing over again, and the judging committee ultimately reversed their decision. 235 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: So this was the first really effective demonstration of a 236 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: practical airship. Previous attempts at airships had been a lot 237 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: more limited than this design. But after this success, Santos 238 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: S Dumont decided that dirigibles were way too influenced by 239 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: weather condition to ever by weather conditions to ever become 240 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: a truly workable method of transportation, So he turned his 241 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: attention to heavier than airplanes. So back in Brazil, he 242 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: designed the fourteen BES or if you're looking at its 243 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: fourteen dash b I S and that's a boxy looking 244 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: biplane with a twenty four horsepower motor. It looked boxy 245 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: because it was designed from box kites, and unlike the 246 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: Right Brothers who used a wooden launching rail to become 247 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: airble worn, he wanted to make an aircraft that could 248 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: take off under its own means. His first attempt to 249 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: do so in July of nineteen o six failed, Another 250 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 1: attempt on September seven barely left the ground, and then 251 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: a few days later he made a meter off the ground, 252 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: And every time he would sort of address the problems 253 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: that came up. Whatever he discovered that seemed like it 254 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: was preventing him from reaching its successful flight, he would 255 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: refine the design and then he would try again. On 256 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: October twenty three, nineteen o six, the fourteen Bees took off, 257 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: traveled about sixty meters at about three ft in the air, 258 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: and then landed. A flight on November twelfth, nineteen o 259 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: six flew two and twenty. Both of these were obviously 260 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: after the December seventeenth, nine o three Wright Brothers flight, 261 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: and he was in fact inspired by that success. The 262 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: reason that people point to Alberto Santos Dumont over the 263 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: Right Brothers is that this whole distinction of the wheeled 264 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: undercarriage on the beasts versus the wooden launching rail that 265 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: the Right flyer was using. The argument is that the 266 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: Rights flyer doesn't count because the plane relied on separate 267 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: pieces to take off rather than an integrated set of 268 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: wheels that were actually part of the aircraft. They are 269 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: also some very passionate Santos Dumont supporters who argue that 270 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: the Rights didn't fly in three at all, suggesting that 271 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: all their secrecy was really a cover up, and that 272 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: their continued use of a launching rail was evidence that 273 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: they had never really perfected their earlier designs. So I 274 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 1: don't know if I would go so far as to 275 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: say that's accurate. But in terms of this was a 276 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: self contained aircraft that took off under its own power 277 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: rather than using a launching rail, I kind of my 278 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: opinion is that actually has some merit. Yeah. Santos Dumont 279 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: didn't stop with the fourteen Bees. He went on to 280 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: design the Demoisille or Dragonfly, a practical light aircraft, and 281 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 1: he published the plans for any one to use to 282 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: build their own. But in nineteen ten he was seriously 283 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: hurt in a plane crash, and that led to him 284 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: having a number of ongoing physical issues and it kept 285 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,880 Speaker 1: him from ever flying again. He had also genuinely, passionately 286 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: loved flight, and he was terribly dismayed at the growing 287 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: use of aircraft in warfare, and he was especially upset 288 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: by because he felt like he was personally responsible. There 289 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: had been so many developments and aviation that were either 290 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: his or that built off of work that he had done. 291 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: And in addition to the lingering effects of the nineteen 292 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: ten crash, he also became seriously ill. He died by 293 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: suicide on July twenty nine, thirty two. In addition to 294 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 1: the aviation awards he earned during his lifetime, he was 295 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: a charismatic showman who became something of a celebrity. Contemporary 296 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: accounts also described him as flamboyant and somewhat feminine, and 297 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: there's been some speculation about what his sexual orientation might 298 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: have been. Today, he is still a highly feered figure 299 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 1: in Brazil, known as the father of the Brazilian Air Force. 300 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,479 Speaker 1: Multiple roads and schools, as well as the town he 301 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: was born in, have been named after him. Now we 302 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: will move on to Richard Pierce, who, for our first 303 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: year or so on the show, was the person most 304 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: often mentioned when we brought up the Right Brothers. He 305 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: was a New Zealand aviation pioneer born on December three, 306 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: eight seventy seven. He was a mostly self taught inventor 307 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,399 Speaker 1: and farmer, and he was granted his first patent in 308 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: nineteen o two for a new style of bicycle that 309 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: used pedals that you pushed up and down rather than 310 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: in a circle. He invented a lot of other devices 311 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: to including a potato planter and a needle threader. Thinking 312 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: about what it would be like to ride a bike 313 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: where you had to push the pedals up and down. 314 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: It's kind of like a StairMaster bike. That seems sort 315 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: of mean, but probably not uh. He was also working 316 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: on ideas for powered flight. His first airplay design was 317 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 1: a low profile monoplane made of bamboo wire, canvas and 318 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: steel tubing. On his first attempt to fly it, he 319 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: took off from the road adjacent to his farm on 320 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: the South Island. He flew fifty yards or so and 321 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: then he crashed into a gorse fence. So there were 322 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: some witnesses to this flight. It definitely happened, but the 323 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: details aren't recorded in any kind of official account, so 324 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,359 Speaker 1: there has been a whole lot of debate about exactly 325 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: when this flight happened. Pierce was a bit of a loaner. 326 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: He never married, There weren't really people that he talked 327 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: to day to day about his work, and he also 328 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: didn't keep a lot of written records or notes. Then 329 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: most cases, when it comes to things that he worked on, 330 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: patent applications are the only remaining documentation of what he 331 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: was doing, and this is also why we have way 332 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 1: less to share about his process than most of the 333 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: other aviators were talking about today. Much later, in nineteen 334 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 1: fifteen and nineteen eighteen, he wrote two different letters in 335 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: which he remembered the flying having happened in February or 336 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: March of nineteen o four. Researchers reconstructed various bits of 337 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,880 Speaker 1: eyewitness testimony to arrive at a date of March thirty one, 338 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: nineteen o three, although some have also argued that it 339 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: was actually in nineteen o two. And this is why 340 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: for the first year or so after we joined the show, 341 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: he was the person so often cited as a counter 342 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: argument to the Right brothers. However, in fourteen, while doing 343 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: while doing research for a book on Pierce aviation, historian 344 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: Errol Martin found an old article published in the Timoroo 345 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: Post on November seventeenth of nineteen o nine, and in 346 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: this article, Pierce himself contradicts the idea that he was 347 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: flying anywhere close to the time that the Wright brothers did. 348 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,199 Speaker 1: As he said to the reporter quote, I did not 349 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,639 Speaker 1: attempt anything practical with the idea until in nineteen o 350 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: four the St. Louis Exposition authorities offered a prize of 351 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,400 Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars to the in to the man who 352 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 1: invented and flew a flying machine over a specified course. 353 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: I did not, as you know, succeed in winning the prize. 354 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: Neither did anybody. He went on to describe some tests 355 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: of the machine that he was currently working on, a 356 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: comparatively lightweight craft powered by a twenty five horsepower engine 357 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: that he had designed himself, along with the rest of 358 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: the planes components. Even the tests that he described to 359 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: this reporter were more like hops than true sustained flight, 360 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: and Errol Martin suspected that the reason that the nineteen 361 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,640 Speaker 1: o two or nineteen o three date persisted for as 362 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: long as it did was because people were looking for 363 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: substantiation that that flight occurred somewhere around that time, not 364 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 1: six or seven years later. Pierce himself also said that 365 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: he didn't fly before the Right Brothers, and that he 366 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: became motivated to work on his own aircraft after their successes. 367 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: So the counter argument that we've heard most often in 368 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: response to Richard Pierce saying that he had not beaten 369 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers was that he was just being nice. 370 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: He may have been lovely, he may have just been 371 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,160 Speaker 1: being nice, but like that's not a very substantive counter 372 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: argument right, uh, and Pierce died in christ Church on July. 373 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: Most of the other men we've talked about today wound 374 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: up influencing the greater field of aviation in some way, 375 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: regardless of whether their attempts at controlled powered flight were 376 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: really all that successful. And this was less true for 377 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: Richard Pierce, but it was only because being in New 378 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: Zealand put him really far away from where most of 379 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: that work was happening. His plane, though, was pretty sophisticated 380 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,400 Speaker 1: for the time. It had wing flaps, a rear elevator 381 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: and a wheeled steerable undercarriage and a propeller with variable 382 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: pitch blades. Because he was so physically removed for most 383 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 1: of the other people physically doing this work, though not 384 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: a lot of people who were trying to come up 385 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: with workable aircraft actually saw it or got to learn 386 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: from it. Yeah, it makes you wonder if he were 387 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: closer to those people, if his innovations wouldn't have accelerated 388 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: the development of flight in a very serious way. And 389 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: for a time after his death, Pierce's work was nearly forgotten. Fortunately, 390 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: knowledge of his efforts did survive. An auctioneer offered his 391 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: last plane to the Canterbury Aero Club, and aviation engineer 392 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: George Bolt later bought it and donated it to the 393 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, where a replica 394 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: is now part of their collection. Although it seems unlikely 395 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: that Pierce achieved true sustained flight in his aircraft, modern 396 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: replicas powered with ultralight aircraft engines have been capable of flight. 397 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: So we're going to take one more quick sponsor break 398 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: before we talk about our last first flight, which was 399 00:23:55,240 --> 00:24:04,640 Speaker 1: by Gustav Whitehead. So in a weird little irony, Gustav 400 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: Whitehead is not the name who is most often tossed 401 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,959 Speaker 1: out when we mentioned the right brothers, but he is 402 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,159 Speaker 1: the aviation pioneer who has gotten a lot of the 403 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 1: most first in flight attention in recent years, particularly in 404 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,399 Speaker 1: the United States. He was born on January first, eighteen 405 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: seventy four, and immigrated to the United States from Bavaria. 406 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: He settled in Connecticut and changed his surname to Whitehead 407 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: from Viskoff. The idea that Whitehead might have flown first 408 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: has come up periodically since the nineteen teens, and the 409 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: most recent big wave of attention came in and that's 410 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: when editor Paul Jackson endorsed the idea that the credit 411 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,360 Speaker 1: should go to Whitehead in the centennial edition of Jane's 412 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: All the World's Aircraft. Australian John Brown launched the website 413 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: Gustav dash whitehead dot com that same year, laying out 414 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: various pieces of evidence that Whitehead was the first to fly, 415 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:04,880 Speaker 1: including what's purportedly a piece of photographic evidence. So here 416 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: are the claims. On August eighteenth, nineteen o one, the 417 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: Bridgeport Sunday Harold reported that Whitehead had made a half 418 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: mile flight four days before on August fourteen, aboard a 419 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: very bird like monoplane known as Number twenty one, and 420 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:24,679 Speaker 1: as still happens today, other publications picked up this story 421 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: and mirrored it in their own pages without doing any 422 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,119 Speaker 1: additional reporting of their own on it. This report listed 423 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: to ben as having helped Whitehead in this effort, and 424 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 1: those were James Dickey and Andrew Steely. In an article 425 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: An American Inventor published April first, nineteen o two, Whitehead 426 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 1: himself also claimed to have flown for several miles over 427 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: Long Island on January seventeenth of that year. He claimed 428 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: that flight and another shorter one took place on the 429 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,919 Speaker 1: same day. From there, Whitehead made a failed bid to 430 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: enter an aircraft in the aeronautical Company Titian at the 431 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in nineteen o four. 432 00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,359 Speaker 1: That was the same one that Richard Pierce referenced in 433 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: his nineteen o nine newspaper interview. Whitehead built several other 434 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: aircraft between nineteen o six and nineteen o nine, none 435 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 1: of which, ever, apparently flew. When a Scientific American reporter 436 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,440 Speaker 1: visited him in nineteen o three, he was actually working 437 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: on a glider and not on a powered aircraft. There 438 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: were doubts about his claims even at the time. A 439 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: much different article appeared in the Bridgeport Evening Farmer in 440 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: nineteen o two, titled Unrealized Dreams Last Flop of the 441 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: Whitehead Flying Machine. It detailed the various grapes of Whitehead's 442 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,120 Speaker 1: financial backer, Herman Lindy, who had invested six thousand dollars 443 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: in two machines and was disappointed in the fact that 444 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: neither of them could actually fly. The Bridgeport Post published 445 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: a similar critical article on the same day. Whitehead died 446 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 1: on October tenth, seven and then in the nineteen thirties, 447 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: somebody stumbled over that initial article that had reported that 448 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: he had a successful flight, so people started trying to 449 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: track down confirmation of whether he had flown or not. 450 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: Andrew Seely could not be located when he wasn't listed 451 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,960 Speaker 1: in any local directories. They did, however, find James Dickey, 452 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: who not only said he had not witnessed the flight, 453 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,360 Speaker 1: but also said he was not even there. He did 454 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: not know any Andrew Seeley, and he had never even 455 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: heard of any flight and that or any other Whitehead aircraft. 456 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: When an interviewer tracked him down in nineteen thirty six, 457 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,479 Speaker 1: he said, quote, I believe the entire story of the 458 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: Herald was imaginary and grew out of the comments Whitehead 459 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: discussing what he hoped to get from his plane. It's 460 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,199 Speaker 1: also impossible to go back and review Whitehead's notes and 461 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: schematics to try to replicate his aircraft and see if 462 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: it actually worked, because he didn't leave any A few 463 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: photographs do exist of his nineteen o one machine, although 464 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: all of those show it on the ground and not 465 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: in the air. No photograph is known to exist to 466 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 1: the machine that purportedly flew several miles in nineteen o two, 467 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: and no photographs exist of one of his aircraft in flight. 468 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: There are photos of an unpowered glider as well as 469 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: one that was flown without a person aboard. This new 470 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: in quotation Mark's photo evidence that was alluded to is 471 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: a really heavily enlarged detail of an exhibition that was 472 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: shown at the Aero Club of America in January nineteen 473 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: o six. This vastly zoomed in on picture shows a 474 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: white blob shaped roughly like one of Whitehead's airplanes when 475 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: viewed from above. People looking to support Whitehead's claims did 476 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: interview a number of witnesses between nineteen thirty four and 477 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four. However, their statements contradict one another or 478 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,760 Speaker 1: they're demonstrably false, and at least one of them was 479 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,040 Speaker 1: paid to give that story. All of those statements were 480 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: documented at least thirty years after the flight purportedly took place, 481 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: And meanwhile, his family, employers, financial backers, and other people 482 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: who were working in the field of aeronautics at the 483 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: time generally agree that none of his planes ever left 484 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: the ground yeah accurately reconstructing exactly when something happened thirty 485 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: years or more after it happened. When there's not anything 486 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: actually written down about it to jog your memory, that's 487 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: kind of a tall order. So in the Smithsonian published 488 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: a number of lengthy rebuttals of all the various Whitehead evidence, 489 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: and then Scientific American did as well, refuting Whitehead supporters 490 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: use of its own past reporting and support for their claims. 491 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: So people, basically we're pointing to old Scientific American articles 492 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: being like, well, right there, it says that he flew, 493 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: and then Scientific American was like, actually, that's not what 494 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: it says. Supporters often claimed that the only reason that 495 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian won't seriously consider the possibility of Whitehead beating 496 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers Too Powered flight is that the contract 497 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: they signed for the flyer specifies that they won't display 498 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: a challenge to the Right Brothers claim to be first. But, 499 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: as quoted in The Economist, aeronautics curator Tom Crouch said quote, 500 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: should persuasive evidence for a prior flight be presented, my 501 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: colleagues and I would have the courage and honesty to 502 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: admit the new evidence and risk the loss of the 503 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: Right flyer. This whole disagreement did basically lead Ohio and 504 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: North Carolina to put aside their differences and basically both 505 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 1: say not Connecticut. Though. One of the things that gets 506 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: pointed to a lot in this whole thing is like, 507 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 1: look at how many other articles say this happened. They 508 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: can't all be wrong, but like they're all articles that 509 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: are spawned from one account. Yeah, they're all reporting one article, 510 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 1: which continues to be an issue in media today when 511 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: one thing will come out and a bunch of other 512 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: people will re report that one thing without doing any 513 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: additional reporting on their own, and then like there's now 514 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: there's a story that's faults and everyone believes it. Uh, 515 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: do you have solicitor mail? Kind of more. Have an update, okay, 516 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: an update on our our episode about the h. L. Hunley, 517 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: which literally just came out because the day after it 518 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 1: came out, people started letting us know that the Friends 519 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: of the Hunley had issued a press release related to 520 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: the research that we talked about in it um. This 521 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: is an issue where less than twenty four hours after 522 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: our episode came out, new information came out about it, 523 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: which doesn't really happen all that often on a history podcast. 524 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: Sometimes we'll get like a month or two later, but 525 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: that day after thing was just uncanny. Yeah, and it 526 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: was vexatious, not only for that reason, UM, because basically 527 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: what the press release from the Friends of the Hunley 528 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: does is that it uh states that Dr Rachel Lance's 529 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: research is incorrect. UH. They said that they considered and 530 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: rejected a blast wave as the cause of death for 531 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: the creed quite a while ago UM and say that 532 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: Dr Lance did not have access to all of their 533 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 1: data to frame her own work when she was doing 534 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,320 Speaker 1: that research. But so all of this is kind of 535 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: frustrating because it doesn't actually give any detail about why 536 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: they have um why they had previously said that a 537 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,160 Speaker 1: blast blast wave was not the cause of the death 538 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: for the people aboard the Hunley. So the other really 539 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: frustrating thing about this press release, besides the fact that 540 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: it basically boils down to just saying nah, is that 541 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: it describes Dr Lance as a student, even though she 542 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: earned her PhD last year and she submitted her paper 543 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,760 Speaker 1: to Plus one after she had that PhD. So it 544 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: did grow out of PhD dissertation research that she was 545 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: doing while she was a student, but it was part 546 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: of her PhD dissertation and not like an informal school project. 547 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: So the framing of it in this press release makes 548 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: it sound like she was maybe an undergrad and this 549 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 1: was some kind of casual activity that she embarked on. UM. 550 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: And it's clear from a lot of the comments on 551 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: the Facebook post where the Friends of the Hunley shared 552 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 1: this press release initially that a lot of people definitely 553 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: read it that way, like there's a lot of really 554 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 1: patronizing Oh, it's cute that the student did some kind 555 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: of project on this, but obviously that's not right. Um. 556 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: They also originally called it fake news, which, in addition 557 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: to being incorrect, is a really politically loaded term at 558 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: this point. So I wanted to number one say, okay, 559 00:33:55,600 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: that development happened that day after our our episode came out. 560 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: But I also it's really important to note that having 561 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: your work scrutinized and assessed by other people is an 562 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: important part of science. People make errors, and peer review 563 00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:12,719 Speaker 1: is not full proof. So of re testing a hip 564 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: hypothesis to confirm whether it's correct, like, that's a critical 565 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: part of the scientific method. But that's also not really 566 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,480 Speaker 1: what was happening with this press release. The press release, 567 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,760 Speaker 1: the most of the detail was just no, it wasn't 568 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: and not actual discussion of her methods or conclusions or 569 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,839 Speaker 1: anything like that. So at this point, on the one hand, 570 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: we have a paper that was submitted to a journal 571 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,399 Speaker 1: that shows all of her work and acknowledges its own limitations, 572 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: and then on the other hand, we have a press 573 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:44,759 Speaker 1: release saying basically not that's not right, without giving any 574 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: detail about why that's not right. So, uh, I'm just 575 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: gonna say, if folks want to, you know, refute these 576 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: findings or do additional research, great, that is part of 577 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:59,960 Speaker 1: science and discovering things. But it was highly for us 578 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,120 Speaker 1: strating to um have this this press release basically offer 579 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,359 Speaker 1: no detail and then also frame the whole thing in 580 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,319 Speaker 1: a pretty patronizing and dismissive way. It reads really dismissively, 581 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: and it mischaracterizes her work, which is That's one of 582 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: those things that just gets my hackles up, Like it's 583 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: fine to contradict people, but you can't like mischaracterize them 584 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: in a way that favors you, even though you have 585 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 1: no evidence, you know, just by trying to like undermine 586 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 1: their credibility. Well, and they may have evidence, they just 587 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,759 Speaker 1: didn't know what evidence was. Um, there's a link to 588 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:45,359 Speaker 1: the most recent uh research that's been done um by 589 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: I think it was the Navy using data from the 590 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: Friends of the Henley and their whole project. But that 591 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 1: report came out before this paper did. So it is 592 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,880 Speaker 1: also not a refutation of what's in the paper, because 593 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: it's not like it came out before the paper doesn't. 594 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: It doesn't say here is why this paper is incorrect 595 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: or whatever. Uh So, anyway, that that was irksome, um 596 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,359 Speaker 1: but you know, when something happens less than twenty four 597 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,480 Speaker 1: hours after your show that came out about it, sometimes 598 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: you got to do a little update after a surprisingly 599 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: short period of time. Also, apparently at some point in 600 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: that episode we said something like nineteen when we really 601 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: went meant eighteen. Sometimes we misspeak. Numbers are tricky for me, 602 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: like I'm that is what I am most likely to 603 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,399 Speaker 1: ever just blurred out the wrong thing. Isn't a year? 604 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 1: Or yeah? Yeah, well you as you and I were 605 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: recording the episode today that we recorded one time I 606 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,480 Speaker 1: said November when the piece of paper they said October. 607 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: So we have all been there. Yeah, we misspeak sometimes. 608 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: Um If you would like to write to us about 609 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 1: this or any other podcast where a history podcast that 610 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,160 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot com. Are also on Facebook at 611 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: Facebook dot com slash miss in history and on Twitter 612 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: at miss in history. Are Tumbler is missed in History 613 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,200 Speaker 1: dot tumbler dot com, and our Pinterest and our Instagram 614 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: are both also at missed in History. 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So 624 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: you can do all that and a whole lot more 625 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 1: at miss in history dot com for more on this 626 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,319 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Is it how staff works 627 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:58,120 Speaker 1: dot com