1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: and there's Chuck and Jerry's not here again. She's kind 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: of checked out. Frankly, and this is stuff you should know, uh, 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: the Wright Brothers edition, which Frankly, Um, I've been using 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: frankly a lot in the last few seconds. Frankly is um, 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: I think grew out of our wind Tunnel episode? Am 8 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: I correct in presuming that? Mm hmmm, I don't know, 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: I don't remember. I know, I think this is just 10 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: on a list, Okay, whatever, Sorry. I will say though 11 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: that this um, and I know I say this for 12 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: a lot of episodes, like why haven't they made a movie? 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: But it is astounding to me that there has not 14 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: been a big, sweeping, three hour biopic about the Right brothers. 15 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: It's it's really weird. Are we still saying biopic? That's 16 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: what I say. That's fine, Yeah, it just makes sense 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: to me. But um so, I agree wholeheartedly. And one 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: of the things that that struck me is when I 19 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: was reading some research on this is that at one 20 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: point these guys, like in a test flight, got up 21 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: like six feet in the air, and I was thinking, 22 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: I want to see what that looked like, because these 23 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: are the first people, some of the first people flying, 24 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: and there are suddenly six feet up in the air. 25 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: And and this was in a glider. This is before 26 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: it was powered flight. So they were really at the 27 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: at the mercy of the wind right then and all that. 28 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: It was one of the most terrifying things they've ever 29 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: that's ever happened to them. And I thought that would 30 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: be really something to see. And that's just one of 31 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: many amazing things that the Right brothers did. They were 32 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,279 Speaker 1: they were amazing human beings. Yeah, I mean the story 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: has thrills, it has is uh you know, it has 34 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: thrills and chills. It's obviously something that changed the course 35 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: of humanity. There are these like very movie like aha 36 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: moments that happened along the way. It's two guys that 37 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: were not trained engineers. They were self taught, brilliant men 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: who figured this out, but they didn't go to school 39 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: to learn it. So it's just I don't know, it's 40 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: got all the right elements. I think I did find 41 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: a a twenty nine minute short film from that's featured 42 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: Tony Hale. Oh yeah, The Great you know Buster bluth Um. 43 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: He's also the dude who he was also the dude 44 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,239 Speaker 1: who rocks out to Mr Robato and that classic Volkswagen 45 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: ad from years back. Oh that's right, I forgot about that. 46 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: But he plays one of them. I can't remember which one. 47 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: And I saw a little clip from it. It looked 48 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: like it was okay, like I had a decent production value. 49 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: But it sounds like a drunk history episode. I know, 50 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,519 Speaker 1: it totally does. But it was he playing it straight 51 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: or was it supposed to be tongue in cheek. No, 52 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: he seemed really drunk, which was weird. Okay, No, no, no, 53 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: it was No, it was totally straight. I mean it's 54 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: hard to imagine him. Like the scene that it showed 55 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: was a very serious scene of him acting, and it 56 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: was very hard to not laugh a little bit because 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: I think Tony Hales a brilliant comedic actor. So it 58 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: was kind of tough. I was like, oh man, it 59 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: seems funny to me. Still, yeah, I'll have to check 60 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: it out. But yeah, there needs to be a big, 61 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: big movie. I want to see this on the big screen. Yeah, 62 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: because so again, I mean, you kind of hit on 63 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,839 Speaker 1: some stuff, but it's It's really important to point out 64 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: that the guys who were the first human beings to 65 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: create um to to have to undertake a powered flight, 66 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: were the same ones who invented that flying machine that 67 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: allowed for powered flight. And they were a couple of 68 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: self taught amateur bike shop owners who decided that they 69 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: wanted to be a part of figuring out how to 70 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: get humans to fly, which was super duper in the 71 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: zeitgeist at the time. It was like the thing, especially um, 72 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: if you were an engineer, that you were probably thinking about, Um, 73 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: there's a lot of uh technological um razmatazz going on 74 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: with things like you know, the the telegraph, which has 75 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: been around for a while, I guess, but locomotion was 76 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: a big one. Trains figuring out how to move humans 77 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: beyond just foot power, bicycle power, um or how horsepower? Yeah, um, 78 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: that was that was a big deal. And and to 79 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: to get people into the air flying there were a 80 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: lot of people working on that, so and on one hand, 81 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: it was also kind of audacious that the Right Brothers 82 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 1: would be like, you know, we'll we'll toss our hat 83 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: into the ring and see if we can be the 84 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: ones to figure this out, just because they were self 85 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: taught and they were outsiders as far as the scientific 86 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: community was concerned. Yeah, And Dave Dave Rus helped us 87 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: put this together. And Dave is keen to point out 88 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: that like they were outsiders, they weren't trained engineers, but 89 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: they were far more than guys that just tinkered in 90 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: a bike shop. They did do that, but they they 91 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: very much, um, they didn't stumble upon this thing. They 92 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,799 Speaker 1: very much were very data driven, very rigorous in their experimentation, 93 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: and it's no surprise that they were the first. Um. 94 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: They may be unlikely, but not surprising, if that makes sense. 95 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: So even at the time, the idea was that it 96 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: would probably probably be the French who were the ones 97 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: that figured out human flight, and even the Right brothers 98 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 1: apparently thought this, but it was still open enough that 99 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: they decided that that they they could give it a shot. 100 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: And they also saw a lot of parallels. You know, 101 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: they're very famous, as we said, for owning a bike shop. 102 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: That was what their their trade was in Dayton, Ohio. UM. 103 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: But they saw a lot of parallels between bicycling and flight, Like, 104 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: for example, UM, bicycling requires a lot of balance and 105 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: you have to figure the same thing out when you're flying, UM, 106 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: you have to build a machine in the most lightweight, 107 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: lightweight way possible, UM that can also convey a human being. UM. 108 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: Aerodynamics factor into it. So they had a bit of 109 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:17,919 Speaker 1: a head start. They weren't coming. It's not like there's 110 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: nothing in the bicycling world that has anything to do 111 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: with this, Especially if you're an engineer and thinking about 112 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: things like aerodynamics as far as bicycling bicycling is concerned, 113 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: you can translate that to to flight. And that's what 114 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers did. Yeah, I mean, a plane is 115 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: just a bike with wings, right basically, or at least 116 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: the early ones kind of work. And my dad's always 117 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: said that, Jr. If anyone ever asked you what the 118 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: difference between a bike and a plane is, you tell 119 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: him nothing. They need pop some gin and that's right, 120 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: all right. So the Right Brothers, of course, Wilbur and Orville. 121 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: They were born UM to parents Milton and Susan. They 122 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: were the third and fourth sons. There were seven kids 123 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: total to UM. A pair of twins, A pair of twins, 124 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: just two people. I kept wanting to make it for people. 125 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: A pair of twins, one set of single set of 126 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: twins uh died in infancy, so there were um five 127 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: kids that grew into adulthood. And uh, we're going to 128 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: pepper in some facts about their sister Catherine here and 129 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: there throughout the episode, because Catherine, I feel like, does 130 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: not get uh much credit, and she while she was 131 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: not inventing the aircraft, she was very very key to 132 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: their operation and uh management of these guys throughout their life. 133 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: And she was a school teacher and then later on 134 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: a suffragette in Ohio. Yeah, well they're there. I believe 135 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: their grandfather and probably their father too, was big on 136 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: um abolition and um like the whole family kind of 137 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: had this uh real defined moral compass that they adhered 138 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: to rigidly. Um. They also were taught as a family 139 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: to be maybe a little wary and suspicious of outsiders 140 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: and that you found your strength and your trust and 141 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: your your basis in the family. And that actually kind 142 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: of helps explain Wilbur and Orville's relationship. Neither one of 143 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: them ever married, and they planned on spending their lives together. 144 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: Um that's what they were going to do, and that's 145 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: what they did until Wilbur died uh prematurely at age 146 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: forty five. Um. Up until that point, they did spend 147 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: their lives together. But that what I'm saying is they 148 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: were they were going to grow old and die together. 149 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: And from the outside it seems really weird, but when 150 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: you start to read about them and who they were 151 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: and how they connected, it's it's awfully sweet actually, Um 152 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: that they had. They had a great love in their 153 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: life and it just happened to be their brother, not 154 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: in any kind of weird sexual way, not in any 155 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: incestuous way. You know. I think the Greeks had like 156 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: it does. It does, but we're in don't forget. But 157 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: I think the Greeks had four different kinds of love, 158 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: and one of them was like a love between two men. 159 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: M bromance, sure, but this was brother man's and there 160 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,559 Speaker 1: was no man's to it. It was just they They 161 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: were brothers that that fit together in a way that 162 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: you rarely see siblings do. And they happened to change 163 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: the world from that interconnection between them. Yeah, their mom 164 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 1: had a college degree and she was great at fixing 165 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: things because her father was a mechanic, and so they 166 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: got some of the tinkering from her. Their dad was 167 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 1: a minister and also ran. I think the church newspaper 168 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: from what I could gather, and like you said, the 169 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: brothers were tight. There was there were four years apart. 170 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: But Wilbur wrote to this um on paper. I don't 171 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: know if it was a was it a memoir or 172 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: did was he just writing? I don't know. I'm guessing 173 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: journal I think they kept journals all right. Well, he 174 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: said this from the time we were little children. My 175 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: brother Oh and I lived together, play together, work together, 176 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: and in fact thought together. That's thought, not fought, although 177 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: they did apparently go at it in in a spirited 178 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: debate kind of way, and they really love doing that. 179 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: It wasn't all just like wine and roses. We usually 180 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: owned all of our toys in common, talked over our 181 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: thoughts and aspiration, so that nearly everything that was done 182 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: in our lives has been the result of conversation, suggestions, 183 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: and discussions between us. That was a great Katherine Hepburn, Oh, 184 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: I could do it as Katherine Hepburn if you want, okay, yeah, 185 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: let's start over please. I think there's another quote. I'll 186 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: do that one later, okay. So that kind of goes 187 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: to show you, like just how how connected these guys 188 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: were just from a very very young age, and they 189 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: were they were four years apart. I mean, bilings that 190 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: are four years apart usually don't keep in touch after 191 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: a certain age, let alone spend their lives together, you know. So, UM, 192 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:09,840 Speaker 1: it was pretty cool that they had like that kind 193 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: of connection and the fact that the if you put 194 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: the two of them together, they were greater than the 195 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 1: sum of their parts. Basically. UM. Apparently Orville was UM 196 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: was once you got to know him, he was a 197 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: lot of fun to be around. He was If you 198 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: had to pick between the two Um as to who 199 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: was maybe the more brilliant engineering mind, you probably go 200 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: with Orville. But that's not to say that Wilbur was 201 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: any kind of slouch UM. And of the two, Wilbur 202 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: was the more outgoing UH person UM. Orville was very 203 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: very shy, and Wilber even experienced a pretty big dip 204 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: in his outgoingness. He had a year's long depression UM 205 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 1: that do railed his college career. He was going to 206 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: go to Yale study to become a minister and do 207 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: who knows what else, UM, And he was playing hockey 208 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: one day, I guess took a stick to the face, 209 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: and I think a couple of other things because he 210 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: had a long standing digestion and heart problem after that. 211 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: But after his face held something, something changed in him, 212 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: and he went into a year's long funk, and rather 213 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: than go to college, he directed his energy towards nursing 214 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: his ailing mom, who was dying of tuberculosis around that time, 215 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: and spent a few years rather rather than going to Yale, 216 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: staying home and just kind of being pretty down in 217 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: the dumps about things. And luckily he had Orville around. 218 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: Orville was also indefatigable optimist who helped Um the brothers 219 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: through some really dark times and this was one of them. Yeah, 220 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: Wilbert didn't even graduate high school because of that, which 221 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: is remarkable um. And also didn't know they had street 222 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: hockey way back then, so that's something I learned too. 223 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, at Um Orville was like even from it. 224 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: When he was a kid, he would go door to 225 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: door um collecting bones and selling them as as fertilizer 226 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: to the local fertilizer place. He built a printing press, 227 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,720 Speaker 1: and then when he graduated high school, he launched a newspaper, 228 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: the West Side News, and that's when he got Wilburg 229 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: sort of out of his depression. He's like, come on, brother, 230 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: you get on over here. You can be the editor. 231 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: I'll be the publisher. Um. It was the same year 232 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: their mother finally did pass away in eight nine of TV, 233 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: and it seems like that really did kind of save 234 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: his brother and put them on a on a renewed 235 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: shared path together. I think. Yeah. So, UM the shortly 236 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: after that, I'm not quite sure what year it was, 237 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: but the bicycle was a big deal. Um. I guess 238 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 1: it was two. I'm sorry. The bicycle craze UM was 239 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: in full swing, and they decided that they would um 240 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: pool their their common talents together and open a bike 241 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: shop in Dayton, UM. And that's what they did. They 242 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: had a bike shop for a while, for many many years, 243 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: even after they were um steadily experimenting with human flight. UM. 244 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: Katherine managed that bike shop. By the way, this was 245 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: so you know, she was the only one in the 246 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: entire family too, aside from her parents, to graduate from college. 247 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: She was the only right child. I couldn't get I 248 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 1: couldn't get a lot I tried to find out. You know. 249 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: It's kind of one of those things where when they're 250 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: five kids that live into adulthood, and two of them 251 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: are the right brothers. You're like, oh, what did the 252 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: other ones do? And there was a lot of good 253 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: stuff on Katherine and how she assisted them through the years, 254 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: but I couldn't really find out anything else about the 255 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: other the other ones, the other two were older brothers, 256 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: and both of them weirdly became book keep bookkeepers, I 257 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: said the first time, but the first one became a 258 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: strange from the family, moved to Kansas City. The other 259 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: way moved to Kansas City, got homesick and came back 260 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: to Ohio and then became a bookke. That was they led, No, 261 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: they led rather unremarkable, you know, solid lives. They didn't 262 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: renv it the airplane, but there's no sha they didn't. 263 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: But Catherine Um, you know the fact that she was 264 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: the only right child to graduate from a full four 265 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: year college with a degree. Um. She also did that 266 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: while she was taking care of the family after her 267 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: mother died. Like the whole family was like, well, you're 268 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: the only woman here, so you got to the family. 269 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: And then she also um came back from college. I 270 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: think she went to Oberlin and um became a teacher 271 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: while she was also taking care of the family too, 272 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: So she does deserve a lot more credit and kudos 273 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: than she gets for sure. Uh yes, the c in 274 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: the k So let's take a break. Yeah yeah, and 275 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about what's going on there 276 00:15:50,080 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: at that bike shop right after this. M all right, 277 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: So the brothers have a bike shop, Catherine's running the thing. 278 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: They're tinkering around in there. The world. Uh you know, 279 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: previous to this bike shop opening in two, like you said, 280 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: there were um electric trolleys going around and Carl Binns 281 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: had built the first like real good automobile, and these 282 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: guys were, you know, they like their bike shop. It 283 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: was doing great. But Wilbur was like, you know what, 284 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: I see what's going on in France, and I think 285 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: that we can do this. Brother, Like, who cares that 286 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: we're not college educated? Who cares that I didn't even 287 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: finish high school? And who cares that we're just bike 288 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: shop owners in Dayton. I think we can we can 289 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: invent a powered airplane. They even call them airplanes at 290 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: the time, a powered flyer. And so he wrote to 291 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: uh the Smithsonian Institution in d C. And said, uh, 292 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: should I read his Catherine effort said, I believe that 293 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: simple flight is at least as possible to man. I 294 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: am an enthusiast, but not a crank. I wish to 295 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: avail myself of all that is already known, and then 296 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: if possible, add my bit you old poop. That was 297 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: a great Truman. It was, and I think that will 298 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: probably never happen again. I think there's one more quote, 299 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: but that should be Sammy Davis Jr. Do the third 300 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: quote is Truman Capponi. Then just keep building like that, 301 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: all right? So, uh, the long and short of it 302 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 1: is the secretary of the Smithsonian, a man named Samuel Langley, 303 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: got this letter. He was a man who was receiving 304 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 1: a lot of government grant to work on powered flight. Yeah, 305 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: it was huge to everybody was working on it at 306 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: the everyone was, and he was failing at it. He 307 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,679 Speaker 1: had something called the aerodome, which, by the time the 308 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: Wright brothers got cranking up, had already failed. Yeah. Um. 309 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: Luckily he wasn't a one of those egotistical guys who 310 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: controls the purse strings. He said, all right, well, you know, 311 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: if you need some information, here's a bunch of information. 312 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: And he sent him everything. But they had Yeah. Um, 313 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: he sent him like a basically a reading list and 314 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of journals that they should subscribe to and 315 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: start investigating UM, and really kind of helped them get 316 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,120 Speaker 1: along their way. UM. This is also a time when 317 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: some early flyers we're approaching this scientifically and publishing their data. 318 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: Not the least of which was a guy named Otto Lilienthal, 319 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: and I we must have talked about him in the 320 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: wind Tunnel episode two, because he definitely was a an 321 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 1: inspiration who I actually died during one of his test flights. 322 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: And on his tombstone it says sacrifices must be made, 323 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,360 Speaker 1: which are has purported last words, which is controversially probably 324 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: actually didn't say that, but um, that's what is on 325 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: his tombstone. But he left a bunch of tables. So 326 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: they started studying, like Auto Lilienthals, like flight test data. 327 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: They were subscribing to journals, reading books, just just UM. 328 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: They were reading everything they could about the mechanics of 329 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: flight and birds and just trying to figure this out. UM. 330 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: And they basically through this UM approach, through just basically 331 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: absorbing them the data and the theories that were already 332 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: out there. They figured out, Okay, we seem to understand, um, 333 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: how to get this stuff in the air and keep 334 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: it up in the air. We've got like lift and 335 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:57,240 Speaker 1: drag figured out. Um, we have power sources generally figured 336 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:01,919 Speaker 1: out what seems to be the big allunge is controlling 337 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: the plane when it's in the air, because that's what 338 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: got out of Lenthall, this thing where you actually where 339 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: you start to turn and then all of a sudden 340 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: the flying craft turns back the original direction and it 341 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: causes it to stall, so you no longer have any 342 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: lift and you just fall out of the air like 343 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: a sack of potatoes. Um. That had to do with 344 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,199 Speaker 1: controlling the plane. So the Right brothers identified very quickly 345 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: and early on that that was a good thing to 346 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: to concentrate on. And that's what they started with, was 347 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: figuring out how to control the plane in the air. Yeah, 348 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,640 Speaker 1: because as we'll see later on when we get to France, 349 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: they they could fly straight, they could fly in a circle, 350 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: but they couldn't control straight and circle at the same 351 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: time and fly where they wanted to fly, which is 352 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 1: a big key in an airplane is you want to 353 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: actually go someplace, not just whatever straight ahead of you. 354 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: So they said Uh, Well, here's you know. The big 355 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,719 Speaker 1: challenge was the fact that and we've talked about this 356 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: a few of our different episodes over the year about 357 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: about plane flight. But there's three things you gotta do 358 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: when you're up there is you gotta control your pitch, 359 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: which is your nose up and your nose down. Your 360 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,479 Speaker 1: role which is your wing tips going you know, up 361 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,160 Speaker 1: or down and turning you. And then what and then 362 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: you got that y'all y'all control one of the Simpson's jokes. 363 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: Ever look at that y'all control? Uh, And that is 364 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: nose right or nose left, And it's those three things, 365 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,120 Speaker 1: those three different xs controlling them all at the same 366 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:37,199 Speaker 1: time stumped everybody. Yes, um, because the flying contraptions that 367 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: were being built we're basically gliders. They were basically hang 368 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: gliders that people were billy, which was a big first 369 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: step that we need to figure out because with a 370 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: hang glider you can figure out the shape, the size, 371 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: the curvature, the angle of the wing. Uh. And when 372 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,679 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers came into this this field, when they 373 00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,640 Speaker 1: decided to cast their lot and to figure out how 374 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: to fly I Um, basically people figured had thought they 375 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: had already figured out the wing. Um, but that one 376 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: thing about seeing, like controlling the wing to moving from 377 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: one side to the other without stalling out. Um, Like 378 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: I said, they kind of studied the mechanics of birds, 379 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: and one of them noticed, I guess it was wilbur 380 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,920 Speaker 1: Um noticed that when a bird banks, the actual shape 381 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: of its wing changes, so that when the wing twists 382 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: a certain way, it causes air to go above it, 383 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: to build up above it or below it, which means 384 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: that you're going to turn one way or the other, 385 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 1: depending on which way your wing is curved. And he said, Hey, 386 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: if we could figure out how to make our wings 387 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: do that, that might really work. But how about how 388 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: about how chuck? Yeah, so here's the sort of movie 389 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 1: one of the aha moments, and hopefully it happened like this. 390 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: This is a great story if it wasn't. But he 391 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: was in his bike shop. He sold a dude an 392 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: inner tube and was holding the empty box when the 393 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 1: guy left, and he said, by Zeus's beard, this looks 394 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: like two parallel wings of a biplane. And when I 395 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,360 Speaker 1: twist this thing just right, the right wing tips curved 396 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: down and the left wing tip curves up. On this box, 397 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: and he was like, I think I have just stumbled 398 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: upon the way to do this, except we're gonna do 399 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: it initially with what was basically sort of like a 400 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 1: glorified box kite. We're gonna do it with wires running 401 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: through the wings that you can twist and warp these 402 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: things from the ground, which was a big, big deal. 403 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: They were doing this in Dayton. People would walk by 404 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: and they're like, man, that is one crazy kite. I've 405 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: never seen a kite do this kind of stuff. Oh, 406 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: I think you should do that in Sammy Davis, that 407 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: is one crazy kite, babe. So yeah, so they were 408 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 1: in Dayton still at this point, flying this box kite around, 409 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,400 Speaker 1: and they were starting to get the hang of bending 410 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: these wings to their will to make it do stuff. 411 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: Yeah that's man. It has changed not just the podcast, 412 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: but my life frankly for the better. So yeah, they 413 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: start testing out on as kites. So it's just pretty 414 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: sensible because you know, the goal ultimately is to get 415 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: a human in there and then to power the whole thing, 416 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: but you know, you want to make sure that thing's 417 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: not going to crash or stall out or whatever. So 418 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,440 Speaker 1: they would do um there. They would build these gliders 419 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaker 1: and then basically control them like kites before they got 420 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: in there, very sensibly, um, which I think is a 421 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: pretty smart move. Yeah, they just started building them bigger basically, 422 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: like each one was a little bit bigger than the 423 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: one before, right, And then once once they would see 424 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: like okay, yeah, this principle actually works, um, then they 425 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,479 Speaker 1: would start to get into the to the glider. They 426 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: would convert the kite to a glider and then try 427 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: themselves with them in there. So they again the purpose 428 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: was to get a person aloft. It's supposed to be 429 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: human flight, um, but they really lies that to get 430 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,679 Speaker 1: a human in the air, you needed a really really 431 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: big glider or you needed a really good strong headwind. 432 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: And they didn't have the money or the resources to 433 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: build a really really big glider of the size that 434 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: it would have taken to just fly it around Dayton, 435 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: So they started looking for places that have um, really 436 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: high winds. And I mean, if this is going to 437 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: be turned into a really good movie, there's going to 438 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: be like letter writing scenes, because they did a lot 439 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,679 Speaker 1: of letter writing, and it actually like moves the story 440 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,439 Speaker 1: forward quite frequently. Is one of those cases they wrote 441 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: to the National Weather Service or the U. S. Weather Bureau, 442 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: and they said, hey, can do you have any wind 443 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,400 Speaker 1: data around the United States? And they said, by God, sorry, 444 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: by Zeus Beard, we do. We have reems of that stuff. 445 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: And they sent them the September and August I believe 446 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,159 Speaker 1: weather data for the United States, all the weather stations 447 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: across the United States. And they started pouring over the 448 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:01,919 Speaker 1: data looking for reliable, um strong winds. They found several. Yeah. 449 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 1: What they wanted though, was um they wanted to kind 450 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: of work in private. So they said, who has a 451 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: lot of wind and not many people around? And where 452 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: they landed, uh quite literally was Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 453 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: And this is at the outer banks of North Carolina, 454 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,879 Speaker 1: which now, um is sort of a different place. I 455 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: mean it's still um it's not like Daytona Beach or anything. 456 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 1: But back then there was like not much of anything there, 457 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: had really good wind, had sandy dunes that if you 458 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: did crash this thing, it wouldn't be as bad as 459 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: as crashing like in a in a hard field and 460 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: like a frosty field. And Dayton, Ohio. And so they 461 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: said this is the place, Let's go down to Kitty Hawk. Uh. 462 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: They did so in nineteen hundred with a seventeen foot 463 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: wingspan glider. They had that same you know, same wire 464 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: technology to bend these wings like the box kite, and 465 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: they couldn't get it off the ground with a passenger, 466 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: so it couldn't be a glider. And they said, we 467 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: still got to treat this thing as a kite. Basically. Yeah, 468 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: they went back to the drawing board. They couldn't figure 469 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: out what the problem was, Um, and they realized that 470 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,199 Speaker 1: there might have been something wrong with the wings, so 471 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,119 Speaker 1: they started kind of pouring themselves into the wing a 472 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: little more. Um. They figured out that maybe the curvature 473 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,160 Speaker 1: of the top of the wing needed to be taller 474 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: and closer to the front, and they came up with 475 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: another glider, the nineteen o one glider, which had a 476 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: twenty two ft wingspan, and went back to Kitty Hawk UM, 477 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: and this time they did manage to get in the air. Um. 478 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: They took this glider for a flight, but just like 479 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: with Otto Lilenthal, it's stalled out with Wilbur on it 480 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: and it crashed to the ground. He cracked his head 481 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,880 Speaker 1: open on a strut, a wing strut, I believe, and 482 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: Um could have died. He was very lucky he didn't die, 483 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,120 Speaker 1: but he didn't UM And they said, okay, well back 484 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,360 Speaker 1: to the drawing board. We we've got to figure this out. 485 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: And they figured something out that I think probably pushed 486 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: them along. They what they were doing wasn't wrong. They 487 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: were following data that was wrong from the guy who 488 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: died from auto lilienthal. They should have been their first clue. 489 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: They figured right. They figured out that his data wasn't 490 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: particularly reliable um Or it was just plain old and correct, 491 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: and that there's always soo something called Smeaton's coefficient, which 492 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: was the value for air density that you would use 493 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: when you're figuring out things like drag or lift. And 494 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: they went back to the drawing board and said, we 495 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: are going to have to conduct our own experience and 496 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: create our own tables. And this is when they built 497 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: their very famous now thanks to our episode on wind tunnels. 498 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: Wind tunnel, that's right, UM. They like we said there 499 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: were wind tunnels around, but they had one themselves. I 500 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: think it's about six ft long, and they built two 501 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: hundred little model wing designs. Because you know, we said 502 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: it before, but it bears in mind repeating it. They're 503 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: working with UM these wings are stacked, so it's not 504 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: just like it's not a well is that funny? Forgive it? 505 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: I think I know what you're talking about. It it's 506 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: not just a single wing coming out each side. It's 507 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: like a biplane or a box kite. So you've got 508 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: you've got four different well not four different, it's really 509 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: two different things you're trying to figure out. But you've 510 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: got four wings. And you know, they had to carve 511 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,239 Speaker 1: these things to um. You know, they like what if 512 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: the top wing is a little bit different and the 513 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: bottom wing is a little bit different. So it's a 514 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 1: lot of experimentation that went into this, and they built 515 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: two hundred model wings, uh and tested them in that 516 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: little wooden wind tunnel. And the real key though, was 517 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: that they had equipment that could very accurately measure that 518 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 1: lift and drag and they could really kind of stack 519 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: everything out head to head and see which one worked 520 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: the best. Yeah, they which combination right there. Yeah. They 521 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: built what are called balances, which measure the movement of 522 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: the say like the wing or the the movement of 523 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: the air around the wing. Um. We talked a lot 524 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: about that in the wind tunnel episode, but I didn't 525 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: realize that engineers basically consider that the balances that they 526 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: created to be on par if not exceeding the impressiveness 527 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,880 Speaker 1: of the fact that they achieved flight. Like these balances 528 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: were not so precise and they built them out of 529 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: old bike spokes and hacks all blades, But that that 530 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: was one of the things that were well known for 531 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: was they could take they could say, oh, yeah, hacks 532 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: all blade, what could I use this for? And they 533 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: would just fit it into different scenarios in their mind 534 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: and say, oh, I could do this, or I need 535 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: to build this. What could I use for this? And 536 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: they would come up with hacks all blades and bike 537 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: spokes and then more impressive than that, these things would 538 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: actually work. So thanks to their dedication to experimentation and 539 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: and taking down data and then building these balances that 540 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: gave them very very accurate data, they not only were 541 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: able to build their own um tables to figure out 542 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: which wing shape and form and size was going to 543 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,680 Speaker 1: produce the best lift and the best control um they 544 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 1: also were able to revise s. Meeting's coefficient, which has 545 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: been in use since the eighteenth century UM from point 546 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: zero five to point zero zero three three and if 547 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: you if you do the math today using modern equipment. 548 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: It was almost exactly precise. And they figured it out 549 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: thanks to their hack saws and bike spokes. That's right. 550 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: And Jimmy Smeaton sat up in his grave burped out 551 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: a little dust bubble, right, and then laid back down. 552 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: Uh no, I don't feel like it's to do. So 553 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: they have their own data. Now they go back to 554 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: Kitty Hawk in two well armed, feeling good. They get 555 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: their third glider going based on this data, and it worked. 556 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: They carry a person, and they had this you know, 557 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: they had this sliding effect that caused Wilbert to crash 558 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: in that last flight. So they added a rudder to 559 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: stabilize things during turns. And they made thousands of test 560 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: flights with this glider over the course of like nineteen 561 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: o two and nineteen o three. A couple of times 562 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 1: they went over six feet like you said earlier, in 563 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: altitude and a glider, and they said, and I think 564 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: it's a great time for a break. They said, I'll 565 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: tell you what's next. We've gotta power this thing with 566 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: an engine or we're just gliding around like a bird. 567 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: So we'll be back right after this to talk about 568 00:32:34,560 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: their power source. Okay, Chuck, Um, so they have they 569 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: have the shape, the size, the design of the actual 570 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: flying machine, but unless they power it, it's just gliding basically, 571 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: And they knew that gliding wasn't going to cut it. 572 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: What's more, it's worth pointing out, Chuck, that they had 573 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: already contributed to um aeronautics and our understanding of aerodynamics 574 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,959 Speaker 1: to an astounding degree that the data sets that they 575 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: came up with from their wind tunnel was the greatest 576 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: most advanced set of data any scientists one planet Earth 577 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: had at the time. And again, these are the self 578 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: taught right brothers working in their bicycle shop who are 579 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: doing this. But they said that's not enough. We're really close. 580 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:57,719 Speaker 1: We think we can figure this out. We we are 581 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: going to invent the airplane basically. Um. And that's what 582 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: they said about doing Yeah so um, And I still 583 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: can't imagine dude being six feet up the poop your 584 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: pants feeling that must have been. You know who could 585 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: do it really well? I see Sam Rockwell, oh yeah, 586 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: it's either Orville or Wilbur maybe or of both. Yeah. Yeah, 587 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: you'd be like Tom Hardy and legend. Yeah, you just 588 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:22,839 Speaker 1: change him up. He wouldn't be twins, but he could 589 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: play both parts. That'd be kind of cool. You only 590 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,319 Speaker 1: gotta pay one guy, that's right, but you have to 591 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: pay him twice. So, uh, they go back to Dayton. 592 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 1: They decided, Uh, they were trying to figure out to 593 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: power this thing, and they said, well, if we're gonna 594 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: power this, need to figure out the engine and the propeller. 595 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,800 Speaker 1: And they thought about the Navy. They were like, the 596 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,319 Speaker 1: Navy builds plenty of propellers for their boats, and they 597 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 1: were very surprised to learn that in all those years 598 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: that the Navy never really worked on thrust in the 599 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 1: design of a propeller. So they said, thrust is the 600 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,879 Speaker 1: key here. So we're gonna go back here and we're 601 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: going to carve dozens and hundreds of little tiny propellers 602 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 1: by hand from little tiny pieces of wood. I bet 603 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: you love that, don't you. God I love it, And 604 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: I mean I try to carve something every time I 605 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:15,760 Speaker 1: go camping, and then thirties five years, I've never carved 606 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,400 Speaker 1: anything that was worth keeping. What do you do you 607 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: have like a go to like fertility idol or I 608 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: used to try and carve like tobacco, pipes and then uh, 609 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: just little people and that was just never any good 610 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: at whittling and stuff. But it's how would you get 611 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: the hole through the pipe that was the problem. Sure, 612 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,279 Speaker 1: so you got the pipe, it was just not functioning well. 613 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,360 Speaker 1: I would have to then take it homeland, like use 614 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: a drill or something. But it never made it. They 615 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: always just ended up in the fire. I got you, okay, 616 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: but back to where you came from, your stupid pipe. 617 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: So they're carving these little propellers and they and and 618 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: Dave points out to that they may have been the 619 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: first engineers ever to come to the realization that the 620 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 1: same forces that generate lift in an airplane and a 621 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,320 Speaker 1: curved wing, which is Bernoulli's principle, was the same force 622 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: that worked with a propeller, and that a propeller was 623 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: essentially just a wing that's uh vertical in spens. Yeah, 624 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: they figured out that there's a direct correlation between lift 625 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,280 Speaker 1: and thrust and it just has to do with whether 626 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:22,279 Speaker 1: the wing is horizontal or vertical. And the idea that 627 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: they were the first ones to figure this out is 628 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: just mind boggling to me. But they seemed to be 629 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 1: and at the very least even if they weren't the 630 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: first ones to figure it out, they were the ones 631 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:34,400 Speaker 1: who figured out how to build a propeller blade such 632 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:38,399 Speaker 1: that it did produce thrust. So um, they figured out 633 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,600 Speaker 1: how to get this thing to be more than a 634 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: glider by propellers moving and pushing the plane through the air, 635 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,240 Speaker 1: propelling it, you could say. But they had to figure 636 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: out how to power the propellers. And that was a big, 637 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: big problem because at the time the thing that had 638 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 1: held people back for a very long time was um 639 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,880 Speaker 1: steam technolo ology was basically all you had, and you 640 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: just were not going you were you were not getting 641 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 1: off of the ground with a steam engine. UM. So 642 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers apparently wrote a bunch of letters to 643 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,279 Speaker 1: a bunch of different engine making companies and said, here 644 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 1: are you know parameters or design parameters. Can you fulfill these? 645 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: And they couldn't. Not a single company came back and 646 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: said we can do this, although apparently a couple did, 647 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: but but said we could do this for you know, 648 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: King's ransom, and they're like, we can't afford that. So 649 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers, being the Right Brothers, just said we'll 650 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 1: just do this ourselves. Yeah, we'll go back to that 651 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: bike shop and they had a guy work in there 652 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: named Charlie Taylor who was a machinist, and he was 653 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 1: you know, it just sounds like another one of these 654 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: guys that was just really good at figuring stuff out. 655 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 1: In the movie, Charlie and Catherine would be romantic interests 656 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,320 Speaker 1: of one another, would be super cute. Well, there's actually 657 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,360 Speaker 1: a sad story later that involves that. But will it 658 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:58,720 Speaker 1: make the story even better for the end? Okay? Um, 659 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:01,680 Speaker 1: let's say just they just had a briefling and maybe 660 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:06,600 Speaker 1: she inspired him to tink her better. Okay, does it 661 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,720 Speaker 1: work that way? Sure? I can why not? Or maybe 662 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: she gives them the brilliant idea during some like hot coitus. Yes, 663 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: I was thinking maybe like a rowboat ride on the lake. 664 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: But sure coitus, I guess you could have coitus in 665 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 1: the in the rowboat on the lake. You should just 666 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:29,560 Speaker 1: abandon this. So Charlie builds a sixth grade classes by 667 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,960 Speaker 1: the way, I know, we should probably take all that out. Okay. 668 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:38,920 Speaker 1: So Charlie builds a four cylinder engine out of aluminum, 669 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: and no one had ever used aluminum before an aircraft construction, 670 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: So this was yet another thing that the right, brothers 671 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 1: in Charlie Taylor came up with that would ended up 672 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 1: like revolutionizing aviation. It became the backbone of aviation. He's 673 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:57,759 Speaker 1: using this lightweight aluminum, super strong, super light. And they 674 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,359 Speaker 1: connected this thing to the propeller using bicycle chains. Yeah, 675 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,920 Speaker 1: and if they if they weren't showing off before, they 676 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,280 Speaker 1: were by then because the engine they created, they figured 677 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: out they needed a minimum of eight horsepower, and the 678 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,879 Speaker 1: engine they created was twelve horse power, so it had 679 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,239 Speaker 1: more than enough to to power the propellers which would 680 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: produce thrust, which would actually create powered flight. And those 681 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,680 Speaker 1: bike chains, um were pretty ingenious too because there were 682 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:27,360 Speaker 1: um two sets of gears, one on each side, going 683 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 1: toward each propeller, and those bike chains connected the propeller 684 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,399 Speaker 1: to the engine. But they to keep the propellers from 685 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 1: shooting the I guess it would be yaw out the 686 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: yin yang um from creating a gyroscope with the two 687 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,400 Speaker 1: propellers going the same way, they decided to have the 688 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:49,279 Speaker 1: propellers going the opposite direction of one another. To make 689 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:51,800 Speaker 1: that happen, they just turned one of the bike chains 690 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,239 Speaker 1: into a figure eight. How ingenious is that? Going in 691 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:57,799 Speaker 1: opposite ways kind of like oh, I don't know, like 692 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: you see on airplanes these days, exact like, so the 693 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,239 Speaker 1: right brothers figured that out too. So now suddenly they 694 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: put all this stuff together. They put together some controls, 695 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,480 Speaker 1: because remember controls were like one of the big um, 696 00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: that was one of the big challenges. They figured out 697 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,640 Speaker 1: a whole set of controls that controlled the rudder, that 698 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:17,839 Speaker 1: controlled these elevators in the front of the airplane that 699 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:21,320 Speaker 1: kept the nose from diving or lifting too much, um. 700 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,680 Speaker 1: And then they had the little lever that that um 701 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,520 Speaker 1: warped the wing one way or another to let you bank. 702 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 1: And so they could control pitch, roll and yaw on 703 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:36,040 Speaker 1: a engine powered aircraft with dual propellers, and they were 704 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: ready to go. All right, So here's how this thing 705 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,759 Speaker 1: is actually flown, which is pretty interesting because you know, 706 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,880 Speaker 1: like you said before, UM they were figuring out, like 707 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,400 Speaker 1: the biggest trick was how to figure out how to 708 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: control this thing so you could make it go where 709 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,919 Speaker 1: you wanted it to go, And no one had really 710 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:56,360 Speaker 1: done this effectively yet. So it's sort of um operated 711 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 1: like like you said, like a hang glider, and that 712 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: the pilot is laying down on his stomach. In the 713 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,439 Speaker 1: middle of the plane, you've got the engine on the right, 714 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: and then right in front of the pilot was what 715 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:12,320 Speaker 1: was known as the elevator, which are two little um 716 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:16,880 Speaker 1: stacked wings that could be adjusted in the adjust them 717 00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:19,239 Speaker 1: with a little wooden lever and the left hand of 718 00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: the pilot to control the pitch and that is nose 719 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,400 Speaker 1: up or down right. UM. And those apparently used to 720 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 1: go in the back of the plane and otto lilienthal 721 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,640 Speaker 1: um crashed with the elevators in the backs of the 722 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: right brothers were the ones that moved into the front, 723 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 1: which helped quite a bit. That was a big one. UM. 724 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:42,040 Speaker 1: There is also the hip cradle, yeah that side. Yeah, 725 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:45,920 Speaker 1: it was like using your hips to to steer the 726 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:50,880 Speaker 1: plane basically. UM. And so the the the this little 727 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,320 Speaker 1: the hip cradle that you laid in UM was connected 728 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,879 Speaker 1: to wires that pulled on the wings that caused them 729 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,320 Speaker 1: to warp one way or another. And then it also 730 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: was connected to the rudder so that that would stabilize 731 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 1: UM yaw as well. So you had two different mechanisms 732 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:12,080 Speaker 1: that controlled three those three different axis. It really is 733 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,000 Speaker 1: super ingenious. Now, all of a sudden, you have a 734 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,640 Speaker 1: plane that's that's under human control, right, Like they couldn't 735 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: figure out at this point a joystick that could control 736 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: all those things at once, So that that hip cradle 737 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,080 Speaker 1: was that I think pretty smart um to take off, 738 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:28,879 Speaker 1: Like this is the one thing I actually never knew. 739 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 1: Always wondered how did they Like, surely they didn't have 740 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,719 Speaker 1: that engine powerful enough to get them going and take off, 741 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: And that is correct. They actually had to get up 742 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: in the air for those twelve horses to do their work. 743 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:43,960 Speaker 1: And to do that, they slid this thing on a 744 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: dolly on a sixty ft rail basically by the hub 745 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 1: of a bicycle wheel. So they get it going on 746 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:54,440 Speaker 1: this dolly and then it launches and then that's when 747 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,160 Speaker 1: the engine has enough I guess enough of the head 748 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: start with a thrust to get it going in the air. Yeah, 749 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,040 Speaker 1: so when the thing kind of launched off of the rail, 750 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,080 Speaker 1: it was in glider mode a little bit. That helped 751 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:09,879 Speaker 1: the engine kick in or take over get enough power. Yeah, 752 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: I mean imagine they had the engine going. No they no, 753 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: they totally did, but like you were saying, it wasn't 754 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,720 Speaker 1: enough to just go from a standstill. They needed that 755 00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: that glide. That glide to get it started. So on uh, 756 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: December sevente am. Actually there was an unsung test flight 757 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,040 Speaker 1: that doesn't get a lot of praise. But on December 758 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:35,200 Speaker 1: they tried their first attempt in this this this powered flyer, 759 00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:38,000 Speaker 1: and they tossed a coin to see who would go 760 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,080 Speaker 1: in Wilbar one and it went um down the track 761 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:44,920 Speaker 1: and went off of the track and crashed immediately and 762 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 1: broke the elevators. So they took three days to repair 763 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: the elevators and on the next try, on December seventeenth, 764 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,800 Speaker 1: that was Orville's turn, and so he became the first 765 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: human to fly in a powered flight. Orville, Orville, right, 766 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: did you flew for twelve seconds? Um? Just a few feet? 767 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,240 Speaker 1: I believe, I don't. I think it was about at um. 768 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: But it was controlled. He landed it, and it was 769 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: a It was a genuine powered flight. And from that 770 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:15,600 Speaker 1: first flight, I think even from the one that um 771 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:17,960 Speaker 1: that Wilburg tried three days before, they're like, this is 772 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,040 Speaker 1: gonna work. You can tell from the way the controls responded, 773 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,040 Speaker 1: and I think this is going to work. We just 774 00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,120 Speaker 1: gotta we just gotta keep trying. So they did. Yeah, 775 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,760 Speaker 1: So on that same day they did three more flights 776 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: and the longest one. Wilbur. I love that they were 777 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,040 Speaker 1: taking turns. I think it's so cool. Um. Wilbur piloted 778 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,879 Speaker 1: eight fifty two ft and about a minute in the air, 779 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,279 Speaker 1: which is remarkable. Like this is the moment of the movie, 780 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,040 Speaker 1: you know, where everyone is just going crazy. It's like 781 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 1: the high point of the film. And uh, then they 782 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:53,440 Speaker 1: go in and just like a movie, they go inside, 783 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: they're having a cocktail, they're warming up and they're so happy, 784 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,880 Speaker 1: and a big gust of wind comes in and lifts 785 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 1: this thing off the ground and smashes it and breaks 786 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:08,319 Speaker 1: it into pieces. Oh man, could you imagine? Yeah, so yeah, 787 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,799 Speaker 1: I can't imagine seeing that. You'd just be like, oh, 788 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,399 Speaker 1: look the things that being lifted into the air, look 789 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 1: at it. Glad. Oh god, no, They're like it's tied down. 790 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:21,319 Speaker 1: And then Sam Rockwell goes to Sam Rockwell, Yeah but 791 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:26,880 Speaker 1: crash right, Yeah, that's the problem. So. Um. They apparently 792 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,760 Speaker 1: were not particularly worried about this at this point because 793 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,960 Speaker 1: they had already shown multiple times that this proof of 794 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:38,319 Speaker 1: concept was was it would work. Um that they had 795 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,080 Speaker 1: they had undertaken the first flight. Uh, they done it basically, 796 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,399 Speaker 1: so they Um. They went back to Dayton. They had 797 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,680 Speaker 1: a habit of leaving their UM there, their test flyers 798 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 1: at Kittie Hawk because they beat them up so badly 799 00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:56,799 Speaker 1: that wasn't worth you know, moving them back UM. And 800 00:45:56,880 --> 00:45:58,960 Speaker 1: some of them are preserved. And I believe that first 801 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,920 Speaker 1: flyer that they create it is in one of the 802 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,360 Speaker 1: air and space museums, maybe maybe in Dayton. I'm not 803 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:10,040 Speaker 1: sure it would make somewhere. It might be at UM 804 00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:14,400 Speaker 1: the one out by Dullus maybe, or maybe I've just 805 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,239 Speaker 1: seen a replica. I feel like I've seen one in 806 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: an airport and not a museum. So that was definitely 807 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:25,640 Speaker 1: a replica. And it was actually only six inches why 808 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,680 Speaker 1: and a kid was flying it around. It was our 809 00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:32,319 Speaker 1: c control. Yeah, come to think of it, I've got 810 00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:36,200 Speaker 1: this all wrong. So the Right Brothers they released a 811 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:39,520 Speaker 1: press release like they were acutely aware of you know, 812 00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 1: what they've just done. This wasn't something they had fallen 813 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 1: backwards into. This wasn't something that you know, just happened 814 00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:48,920 Speaker 1: through sheer luck like they worked their way too powered flight. 815 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:50,920 Speaker 1: So they let the world know about it, and they 816 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:57,200 Speaker 1: got zero response in return. Basically, yeah, this was pretty disappointing. 817 00:46:57,239 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 1: I think they, you know, sent out this press release 818 00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:04,359 Speaker 1: like you said, and got nothing. And I think they 819 00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:08,600 Speaker 1: were like, um, hey, everyone, we flew a plane, like 820 00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:10,879 Speaker 1: this thing that everyone's trying to do all over the world. 821 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:14,360 Speaker 1: We did it hi and it was it seems to 822 00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:18,279 Speaker 1: be just a case of um. Like like Dave says 823 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,960 Speaker 1: a boy who cried Wolf, like these newspaper editors had 824 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,680 Speaker 1: been burned by writing about other people who said they've 825 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,080 Speaker 1: done it, and they're like yeah, right, um and it 826 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,000 Speaker 1: took This is kind of one of the greatest parts 827 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,080 Speaker 1: of the story. I think. In September nineteen o four, 828 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,880 Speaker 1: a journalist that was writing a beekeeping journal called Gleanings 829 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:41,000 Speaker 1: and b Culture, Mr. I A. Root was the first 830 00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,120 Speaker 1: person to actually say, yeah, I'll write about this thing 831 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:49,440 Speaker 1: that sounds like a good story. Culture. Who would who 832 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:52,919 Speaker 1: would play him? Who? I John c Riley? I think, 833 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,919 Speaker 1: oh yeah, good, good call man. Okay. So so John 834 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:00,279 Speaker 1: c Riley shows up. He he had read about the rights, 835 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,000 Speaker 1: and he said can I can I see one of 836 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,560 Speaker 1: your flights? And they invited him out and he wrote 837 00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,080 Speaker 1: about it, and it didn't get much attention at the 838 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,000 Speaker 1: time because I don't think Gleanings and b Culture had 839 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:14,880 Speaker 1: a really huge readership. Story though, I think you should 840 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:19,080 Speaker 1: read this quote in whatever whatever accent you want to read. No, 841 00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:22,439 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna read a regular God and his great 842 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:24,920 Speaker 1: mercy has permitted me to be at least somewhat instrumental 843 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,400 Speaker 1: in ushering in and introducing to the great wide world 844 00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:30,840 Speaker 1: an invention that may outrank the electric cars, the automobiles, 845 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,680 Speaker 1: and all other methods of travel, and one which may 846 00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:37,480 Speaker 1: fairly take a place beside the telephone and wireless uh 847 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:42,200 Speaker 1: telegraphy am I claiming a good deal? Well, I will 848 00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:44,520 Speaker 1: tell you my story and you shall be the judge. 849 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:49,759 Speaker 1: So that was pretty good. I mean, for no accent whatsoever. Oh, 850 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,840 Speaker 1: I thought you were talking about the actual article. So 851 00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:56,240 Speaker 1: um yeah. They still didn't get any kind of attention 852 00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:58,240 Speaker 1: from that, but it is a pretty great little footnote 853 00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:00,240 Speaker 1: to the whole thing that that was the first article 854 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:03,760 Speaker 1: that was written on them and the Gleanings and bat Culture. 855 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,239 Speaker 1: They even wrote the War Department. He said, Hey, we 856 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 1: invented an airplane. Do you want to buy it? And 857 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:12,880 Speaker 1: they said nah. Yeah. One of the reasons why it 858 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:14,960 Speaker 1: was because the War Department was like, well, can you 859 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:17,919 Speaker 1: send us a specifications. The Right brothers were like, no, 860 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,680 Speaker 1: we invented this, and yeah, you give us a contract 861 00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:23,440 Speaker 1: first and then we'll give you the specifications of the 862 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,440 Speaker 1: War Department said Now. Even worse than the fact that 863 00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:29,280 Speaker 1: they weren't getting any kind of credit for their accomplishment 864 00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:33,000 Speaker 1: and no takers on um selling their their design, was 865 00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:35,279 Speaker 1: that over in France. Remember we said that even the 866 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,399 Speaker 1: Wright brothers thought that the French would be the first 867 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,160 Speaker 1: to a powered flight. Um. The French were convinced that 868 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:42,800 Speaker 1: they would be the first to the power flight and 869 00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:45,719 Speaker 1: that they had cracked it. There were Um. There was 870 00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:49,799 Speaker 1: a Brazilian balloonist named Alberto Santos Dumont. I think they 871 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:53,319 Speaker 1: made a movie about him recently. He's a super colorful character, right, 872 00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:56,799 Speaker 1: I don't know. I believe they did. He gave a demonstration. 873 00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 1: I got a movie. Yeah. I feel like they just 874 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:05,719 Speaker 1: called it Dumont with an exclamation point maybe. Um. But 875 00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:08,759 Speaker 1: he he flew a plane in Paris, I believe, of 876 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:12,080 Speaker 1: his own design, UM, and it just flew in a 877 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,239 Speaker 1: straight line, no control. But it was enough at the time, 878 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:17,600 Speaker 1: because again no one was paying attention to the Wright brothers. 879 00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:20,320 Speaker 1: It was enough for the French to be like succer Blue, 880 00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,319 Speaker 1: you know this is the flight has been achieved, and 881 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,360 Speaker 1: the Wright brothers are like, no, this doesn't know. What 882 00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,239 Speaker 1: we're doing is so much better than this. N o 883 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:32,160 Speaker 1: eight there was a guy, a Frenchman named aure Farman, 884 00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:35,080 Speaker 1: who was the first to fly a powered plane in 885 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:38,480 Speaker 1: a one kilometer closed circle. This is nineteen o eight. 886 00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:41,399 Speaker 1: It bears mentioning that the Wright brothers, who again their 887 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,520 Speaker 1: total outsiders, no one's listening to them. Three years previous 888 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:49,000 Speaker 1: to this they had stopped the experimental stage, they had 889 00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:51,840 Speaker 1: reached the point where they had produced a reliable plane. 890 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:55,080 Speaker 1: And by nineteen oh five, three years before this, French 891 00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:57,960 Speaker 1: pilot did that one kilometer closed circle flight that just 892 00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:00,960 Speaker 1: knocked the socks off of the French um. They had 893 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,640 Speaker 1: done a twenty four and a half mile circle in 894 00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:06,759 Speaker 1: thirty nine minutes. The Wright brothers had three years before this. 895 00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:10,520 Speaker 1: And so imagine accomplishing this and then seeing people doing 896 00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:13,759 Speaker 1: like like preschool or stuff compared to what you're doing, 897 00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:17,360 Speaker 1: getting all of this praise and attention and press lavished 898 00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:20,080 Speaker 1: on them, and no one's listening to you. This is 899 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:22,400 Speaker 1: the situation that the Right Brothers found themselves in at 900 00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:27,200 Speaker 1: the time. Okay, so Wilbur has had enough. He goes 901 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:30,640 Speaker 1: to France and nineteen eight on August eight and he said, 902 00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:33,200 Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna go demonstrate this thing. I'm 903 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:36,719 Speaker 1: gonna show them that flying straight is stupid and I'm 904 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:38,920 Speaker 1: going to show them that we can actually make this 905 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,440 Speaker 1: thing turn and do whatever we want. And so he 906 00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:45,440 Speaker 1: went to a little small racetrack outside of le Mons 907 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:51,520 Speaker 1: and uh, got on the ground and said, gentlemen, I 908 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,719 Speaker 1: am going to fly. And they all spoke French and 909 00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:58,160 Speaker 1: they were like what he said, but he said something, 910 00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:01,520 Speaker 1: I think he's about to do something big. So uh 911 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:04,919 Speaker 1: he he flew. And if the French were like suckaboo 912 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:08,359 Speaker 1: at that one flight, they were really knocked out at 913 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:11,960 Speaker 1: this one. Uh. They all realized that what was going 914 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,400 Speaker 1: on in front of their eyeballs was something that the 915 00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: French had never accomplished, that no one had ever accomplished before, 916 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:21,520 Speaker 1: and that they were basically done. And uh. There was 917 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:25,279 Speaker 1: a frenchman supposedly that was there that was quoted in 918 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:31,120 Speaker 1: the newspapers by saying, nissen batu, we are beaten. Yeah. 919 00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:34,160 Speaker 1: So I mean imagine being like a French at the 920 00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:37,680 Speaker 1: time and seeing like, you know, somebody in hang a 921 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:41,200 Speaker 1: hang glider with a bicycle gear on it and being like, 922 00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,640 Speaker 1: people are flying, people are flying, and then somebody shows 923 00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:47,759 Speaker 1: up in like a piper cub is like watch this. 924 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,560 Speaker 1: That was kind of the level of knock your socks 925 00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:53,600 Speaker 1: off that that the French saw, um, and that was it. 926 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:58,880 Speaker 1: Like from that point on, the right brothers were overnight sensations. 927 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:03,360 Speaker 1: They were the first superstars of the twenty century for 928 00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:05,880 Speaker 1: being the first to fly, and they finally started to 929 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:09,000 Speaker 1: get their claim. So, yeah, these guys are superstars. Katherine 930 00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:11,479 Speaker 1: is actually, uh, if you remember, we haven't talked about 931 00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:14,320 Speaker 1: her in a bit, she's actually a superstar too, because 932 00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:17,400 Speaker 1: she goes with them. She learns French for the express 933 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:20,200 Speaker 1: purpose of helping the brothers out while they go on 934 00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:25,879 Speaker 1: an eventual European tour. Um she negotiates a deal with 935 00:53:26,080 --> 00:53:28,480 Speaker 1: because these guys, you know, I get the sense that 936 00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:31,040 Speaker 1: neither one of them were businessmen, and they really sort 937 00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:34,480 Speaker 1: of had their head in the invention game. And so 938 00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:37,520 Speaker 1: Catherine was really key for you know, initially managing that 939 00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,240 Speaker 1: bike shop and then helping them out with their journaling 940 00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: and data keeping, and then she's the one that actually 941 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:47,320 Speaker 1: negotiated with the army, because, yeah, the army said, hey, 942 00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:50,520 Speaker 1: we'll give you guys some money. We'll give you guys 943 00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:52,600 Speaker 1: twenty dollars as a grant, but you've got to be 944 00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:56,560 Speaker 1: able to fly a pilot and a passenger. Um, and 945 00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:59,120 Speaker 1: I presumably you know a couple of pomps or something 946 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,359 Speaker 1: and a gun maybe sure would be my guess, at 947 00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: the very least a guy with a rifle. Yeah. Side, 948 00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:11,759 Speaker 1: was this before or after um the tragic game of 949 00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:14,799 Speaker 1: hide and Seek with Katherine and Charlie Taylor where he 950 00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:17,920 Speaker 1: hid in the trunk and got locked in and suffocated 951 00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:20,399 Speaker 1: to death that you referenced earlier. I don't know. I'm 952 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:22,960 Speaker 1: not sure, okay, but it was around that time from 953 00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:25,719 Speaker 1: what I understand, right, I think so. So Katherine, she 954 00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:31,000 Speaker 1: negotiates this money, and wilbur Uh is in France and 955 00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:34,120 Speaker 1: Orville at this time, goes back to d C and 956 00:54:34,239 --> 00:54:36,880 Speaker 1: he eventually, in d C does a flight that goes 957 00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:41,359 Speaker 1: for seventy minutes. Yea. So the French when they saw this, 958 00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:44,000 Speaker 1: the French governments like, take our money, how much do 959 00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:46,360 Speaker 1: you want for this plane? And they started to negotiate 960 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:49,719 Speaker 1: with France to sell their military planes. That got the 961 00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:52,280 Speaker 1: attention of the U. S. War Department finally said Okay, 962 00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:54,560 Speaker 1: we're on board. We'll start buying planes from you too. 963 00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:55,879 Speaker 1: And one of the things that a lot of people 964 00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:58,120 Speaker 1: don't realize about the Rights is that they spent several 965 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:03,000 Speaker 1: years UM around this time training the militaries of the 966 00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:06,560 Speaker 1: US and Europe how to fly planes and selling them 967 00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:11,640 Speaker 1: planes instructors. Yeah, they really were so um. During one 968 00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:16,000 Speaker 1: of this these training I guess kind of demonstrations, Orville 969 00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:20,640 Speaker 1: had a passenger named Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, and they went 970 00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:23,879 Speaker 1: up and we're circling a field and I'm not quite 971 00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:26,120 Speaker 1: sure what malfunction they had. Do you know what what 972 00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:29,160 Speaker 1: it was? Uh? No, I just know that Orville had 973 00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:31,319 Speaker 1: to cut, you know, cut the engine basically and try 974 00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:33,520 Speaker 1: and land. He was going to try to glide in 975 00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:36,440 Speaker 1: and it didn't go very well. The plane, I guess, 976 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,399 Speaker 1: lost its lift and just fell out of the sky again, 977 00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:42,319 Speaker 1: which was a real problem back in those days. And 978 00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:46,040 Speaker 1: um Orville broke some ribs, um he sprained his back, 979 00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:49,880 Speaker 1: but Thomas Selfridge died. He foctured his skull. He became 980 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:53,960 Speaker 1: the first casualty of a powered airplane crash in the 981 00:55:54,040 --> 00:55:58,640 Speaker 1: history of humanity, which is kind of a dubious honor. Really. Yeah, 982 00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:03,000 Speaker 1: it was Orville recovered, of course. Uh. He came to 983 00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:05,800 Speaker 1: France and this is when Catherine also came to France, 984 00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:08,879 Speaker 1: and this is where they did their big sort of um, 985 00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,040 Speaker 1: sort of the victory tour, where they were demonstrating this 986 00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:17,280 Speaker 1: thing all over Europe. People loved it. It was huge. UM. 987 00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:21,640 Speaker 1: And like you said earlier, they were Wilbur and Orville 988 00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:23,680 Speaker 1: and Catherine for were the first big celebrities of the 989 00:56:23,680 --> 00:56:27,160 Speaker 1: twentieth century. It's it's pretty astounding. And Orville was like, 990 00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:29,920 Speaker 1: where's Charlie Taylor? And Katherine was like, I don't know, 991 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:31,800 Speaker 1: I haven't seen him in like a year now. He 992 00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:36,480 Speaker 1: just kind of dropped off the face. So strange. So UM. 993 00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:42,440 Speaker 1: When they their company became established, the right company to 994 00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:46,439 Speaker 1: design and build planes. UM, when that got again got 995 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:50,880 Speaker 1: off the ground, sorry everybody. UM. Orville was kind of 996 00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:54,320 Speaker 1: dedicated to the actual production and invention side, while Wilberg 997 00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:57,640 Speaker 1: dedicated himself to the business side, meaning he ran around 998 00:56:57,719 --> 00:57:02,560 Speaker 1: suing anybody he thought was infringing on their patents. UM. 999 00:57:02,600 --> 00:57:05,040 Speaker 1: And he spent a lot of time doing that again. 1000 00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 1: Remember they were kind of raised not to trust outsiders 1001 00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:11,040 Speaker 1: like they trusted their family. Um, which is the opposite 1002 00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:14,239 Speaker 1: of the stuff you should know motto UM. And on 1003 00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:17,360 Speaker 1: some trip while he was I believe filing one of 1004 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:21,560 Speaker 1: these patent infringements, were investigating it. He died. After a 1005 00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:24,680 Speaker 1: trip to Boston, he caught typhoid and I looked, and 1006 00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:28,920 Speaker 1: typhoid Mary was not cooking at the time. She was 1007 00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:32,200 Speaker 1: on hiatus. Because I thought, wouldn't that just be amazing 1008 00:57:32,240 --> 00:57:35,720 Speaker 1: if he caught typhoid from typhoid Mary? But he did 1009 00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:38,200 Speaker 1: not um or as far as I could find, he 1010 00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,320 Speaker 1: did not. So he went back home to Dayton and 1011 00:57:40,360 --> 00:57:43,200 Speaker 1: he died. And he was only forty five actually. And 1012 00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:45,480 Speaker 1: remember Orville and Wilbur planning to like spend the rest 1013 00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:48,160 Speaker 1: of their lives together. So this had a pretty big 1014 00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,920 Speaker 1: effect on Orville. Yeah, I get the sense. And this 1015 00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,320 Speaker 1: is where I sort of hinted earlier about Catherine and 1016 00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,720 Speaker 1: her romance. Um. She went with him and kind of 1017 00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:01,400 Speaker 1: stayed with Orville. He he didn't have much interest in 1018 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:04,920 Speaker 1: running the right company anymore, so he sold it in 1019 00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:08,840 Speaker 1: nineteen fift sold all their patents for a million bucks 1020 00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:13,080 Speaker 1: about six million dollars today, so a huge sum of 1021 00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:15,640 Speaker 1: money to you know, retire for the rest of your life. 1022 00:58:16,360 --> 00:58:19,080 Speaker 1: And that's what he did. Um, he still did stuff 1023 00:58:19,160 --> 00:58:23,440 Speaker 1: and this was a Hawthorne Hill is big mansion in Dayton. Um. 1024 00:58:23,560 --> 00:58:28,760 Speaker 1: Like he built an automatic toaster that sliced the bread. Um, 1025 00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:32,720 Speaker 1: he built a system of chains that let him adjust 1026 00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:36,640 Speaker 1: the furnace from upstairs. He built a circular shower, like 1027 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:39,360 Speaker 1: he was he was never gonna stop building things. But 1028 00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:41,800 Speaker 1: it was all I got the sense, and just sort 1029 00:58:41,840 --> 00:58:46,840 Speaker 1: of retirement hobby sort of way. But Catherine, the sad 1030 00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:49,680 Speaker 1: ending there is. Um she met a man and fell 1031 00:58:49,720 --> 00:58:52,960 Speaker 1: in love I can't remember his name, and decided to 1032 00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:56,400 Speaker 1: get married and was really nervous about Orville. I think 1033 00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:59,880 Speaker 1: he was so used, so dependent on her being around 1034 00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:04,320 Speaker 1: that that she rightfully was scared and she was correct. 1035 00:59:04,440 --> 00:59:07,920 Speaker 1: And he refused to speak to her ever again after 1036 00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:13,160 Speaker 1: she got engaged and got married, which is really kind 1037 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:16,160 Speaker 1: of credty. Uh, that's the nicest way to say it. 1038 00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:17,840 Speaker 1: And and it made me kind of think ill of 1039 00:59:17,920 --> 00:59:22,360 Speaker 1: him at the end, and she got pneumonia and was dying. 1040 00:59:22,400 --> 00:59:25,920 Speaker 1: Basically he still wouldn't talk to her. And finally one 1041 00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:29,520 Speaker 1: of his friends said, you gotta go talk to Catherine, man, 1042 00:59:29,680 --> 00:59:33,400 Speaker 1: this is your sister. And apparently he did arrive at 1043 00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:36,880 Speaker 1: her deathbed at least, but but she had died. Yeah, 1044 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:39,120 Speaker 1: well I don't I think he got there first, but 1045 00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:42,640 Speaker 1: she she did pass away of pneumonia, and us just 1046 00:59:42,840 --> 00:59:45,040 Speaker 1: very sad ending to her story of after not getting 1047 00:59:45,560 --> 00:59:47,560 Speaker 1: much credit over the years and sort of being at 1048 00:59:47,560 --> 00:59:50,080 Speaker 1: the beck and call of these brothers that were brilliant 1049 00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:53,280 Speaker 1: inventors and being a key part of their team, and 1050 00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:55,280 Speaker 1: then being too scared to tell her brother that she 1051 00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:57,520 Speaker 1: had fallen in love and getting married. It was really sad. 1052 00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:02,160 Speaker 1: That is very sad. Um So she so Orville outlived 1053 01:00:02,160 --> 01:00:05,440 Speaker 1: her as well, Huh, I didn't realize that. Well, he kept, 1054 01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:08,280 Speaker 1: like you said, tinkering kind of in retirement as a 1055 01:00:08,480 --> 01:00:11,080 Speaker 1: as a as a consummate inventor for the rest of 1056 01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:14,240 Speaker 1: his life and he actually died. Um. Well, he suffered 1057 01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:17,120 Speaker 1: a heart attack while fixing a doorbell and then died 1058 01:00:17,160 --> 01:00:21,440 Speaker 1: three days later, apparently super alone. I didn't realize that 1059 01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:24,360 Speaker 1: that was a real bummer ending that hadn't anticipated, Chuck, 1060 01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:27,520 Speaker 1: It's a double bummer. I thought we were gonna end 1061 01:00:27,560 --> 01:00:30,720 Speaker 1: it kind of like um him saying him being like 1062 01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:34,640 Speaker 1: I invented to the end, and then you know, the 1063 01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:38,640 Speaker 1: the SUSA band starts playing I got mad at my 1064 01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:42,960 Speaker 1: sister because she found love and I never did. Yeah, 1065 01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:45,800 Speaker 1: or he did find love and it was his brother 1066 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:50,680 Speaker 1: who died years before. Perhaps, so that's it for the 1067 01:00:50,720 --> 01:00:54,320 Speaker 1: right brothers. Huh, that's it. Evil Kinevel got a two 1068 01:00:54,320 --> 01:00:58,720 Speaker 1: parter and the Wright brothers didn't. He broke more bones. 1069 01:00:59,040 --> 01:01:02,200 Speaker 1: We're never gonna live that down. Nope, I'm never going 1070 01:01:02,240 --> 01:01:04,600 Speaker 1: to let us live live at that down. Ah, you 1071 01:01:04,680 --> 01:01:09,120 Speaker 1: got anything else? Nothing? Did I say that already? Maybe? Okay? 1072 01:01:09,240 --> 01:01:14,120 Speaker 1: Either way, it's time for a listener mail. I'm gonna 1073 01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:15,840 Speaker 1: call this from a ten year old fan. We love 1074 01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:19,160 Speaker 1: hearing from our young listeners. Hi, guys, my name is 1075 01:01:19,240 --> 01:01:22,840 Speaker 1: Quinn and I'm ten years old and from Vancouver, BC. 1076 01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:25,400 Speaker 1: I really enjoy listening to your podcasts on my way 1077 01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:28,000 Speaker 1: to school. The two most interesting podcasts that I've listened 1078 01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:30,600 Speaker 1: to so far, so what about soap? It's really cool 1079 01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:33,600 Speaker 1: how soap is made? And the second one about porcupines. 1080 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:37,520 Speaker 1: It's so cool that the old world porcupines have straight quills. 1081 01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:41,280 Speaker 1: Now the New world porcupines have barbed quills and how 1082 01:01:41,280 --> 01:01:44,080 Speaker 1: they're harder to get out of your body. I am 1083 01:01:44,200 --> 01:01:46,440 Speaker 1: very interested in the Titanic and the story behind it, 1084 01:01:46,680 --> 01:01:48,160 Speaker 1: and I was wondering if you guys ever thought of 1085 01:01:48,200 --> 01:01:51,960 Speaker 1: doing a podcast on the Titanically. Yeah, we totally should 1086 01:01:52,200 --> 01:01:54,440 Speaker 1: if you have. It's a very interesting topic to listen to. 1087 01:01:55,320 --> 01:01:58,040 Speaker 1: Uh So if you thought about doing that, then maybe 1088 01:01:58,040 --> 01:02:00,400 Speaker 1: you could do it. It would give me something to 1089 01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:02,400 Speaker 1: look forward to on the car right to school. I 1090 01:02:02,520 --> 01:02:04,960 Speaker 1: really hope you read this email, and I'm also hoping 1091 01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:07,560 Speaker 1: that you can write back if you have time. You guys, 1092 01:02:07,760 --> 01:02:10,280 Speaker 1: keep up the good work, and please keep making podcast 1093 01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:14,920 Speaker 1: for me to listen to all caps. Thank you so much, sincerely, Quinn. 1094 01:02:15,560 --> 01:02:17,640 Speaker 1: That was a great email, Quinn, thanks a lot for 1095 01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:20,200 Speaker 1: It's great and that cute thing happens to where it's 1096 01:02:20,240 --> 01:02:23,600 Speaker 1: from the parents email, which is always one of my 1097 01:02:23,640 --> 01:02:26,120 Speaker 1: favorite things. So I wrote back to Quinn's I think 1098 01:02:26,280 --> 01:02:28,880 Speaker 1: dad and said to tell Quinn that this is gonna 1099 01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:32,720 Speaker 1: be uh it's gonna be a listener mail. So yeah, Quinn, 1100 01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:35,640 Speaker 1: We've been wanting to do a Titanic episode for a while, 1101 01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:39,479 Speaker 1: but there was a period there where everyone had seen 1102 01:02:39,560 --> 01:02:43,439 Speaker 1: Titanic so recently the movie that it was like, why 1103 01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:45,800 Speaker 1: why would you even bother to do an episode on it? 1104 01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:48,120 Speaker 1: Right now? Everybody like it? Now, that's not what James 1105 01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:51,680 Speaker 1: Cameron says. Now we can do one, and it's high time. 1106 01:02:51,760 --> 01:02:54,320 Speaker 1: I've wanted to since since day one. So listen out 1107 01:02:54,320 --> 01:02:57,880 Speaker 1: for a Titanic episode and know that that that came 1108 01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:00,360 Speaker 1: from you there, Quinn. Yeah, that'll be a two part probably, 1109 01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:04,959 Speaker 1: we'll see. Only time will tell. If we mentioned Evil 1110 01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:08,120 Speaker 1: Kinevel in it, then yes, it probably will. Write. If 1111 01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:09,880 Speaker 1: you want to get in touch with this, like Quinn did, 1112 01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:12,600 Speaker 1: we are always on the lookout for emails from you. 1113 01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:15,360 Speaker 1: You can send it to us at stuff podcast at 1114 01:03:15,360 --> 01:03:21,000 Speaker 1: iHeart radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a 1115 01:03:21,040 --> 01:03:24,280 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 1116 01:03:24,400 --> 01:03:27,080 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 1117 01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:28,240 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.