Welcome to Dayton, Ohio, 1886. It's the middle of winter. A group of teenage boys is doing what

teenagers sometimes do in the winter, playing hockey outdoors.

This particular game takes place on a frozen pond next to the Dayton's

Soldier's home, and one of its participants will be a household name in America by the turn of the century.

But right now, he's just 18, and he's about to meet with an accident.

Wilbur, you all right? You knocked out his teeth.

Wilbur is Wilbur Wright of the famous Wright brothers.

And in 1886, during a friendly game of hockey in his hometown of Dayton,

Wilbur was struck in the face with a hockey stick.

The blow broke his jaw and knocked out most of his upper front teeth. Somebody fetch a doctor. It was the kind of accident that

happens all the time in youth sports, especially hockey. But Wilbur Wright was not your ordinary

kid. And believe it or not, you can trace the origin of manned flight right back to the ice

where Wilbur Wright lay bleeding on that pond in Ohio. That devastating injury would almost

ground Wright's entire life. But it didn't. And from the crucible of his pain and suffering

would emerge an invention that would allow humans to soar for the first time.

Modern aviation depends upon a lot of things.

The development of balloons and gliders.

The invention of the internal combustion engine. Oh, and also a ton of

trial and air. But mostly it depends on Wilbur Wright. You'll notice I didn't say the Wright

brothers. We'll get to that. Nearly 20 years before the Wright brothers made history on the beaches of North Carolina,

something happened that would change the course of their lives forever, not to mention your life

and my life and the lives of millions of others today.

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