The Wright Brothers

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Approximately 100 thousand flights take off and land each and every day. A months long journey on a boat is condensed to just a few hours with the help of aircraft, and the birth of planes introduced an entirely new form of warfare.

Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Wright brothers, are household names. But how did they create the first successful heavier than air flying machine?

In this episode, Don speaks to Tom Crouch, Curator Emeritus at the National Air and Space Museum. They delve into the lives and personalities of these two men, and the long process that took them into the air above Kitty Hawk.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Siobhan Dale. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It is a chilly morning on the rolling dunes of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina's outer
0:08.3	banks.
0:09.8	A stiff blustering breeze blows, somewhat dampening the clamor of the gasoline-powered engine
0:15.8	attached to an elegant, if rudimentary aircraft.
0:19.7	The Wright Flyer 1.
0:22.0	Three days ago, Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Wright brothers, flipped a coin to decide who
0:27.0	would get first go at flying their newest design. Wilbur won the toss, but his attempt proved unsuccessful and they've spent precious
0:35.2	days on repairs and adding extra fabric stiffening to the wings.
0:40.3	Now it's Orville's turn at the controls.
0:43.0	1023 a.m. December 17th, 1903.
0:48.0	The flyer is checked once more,
0:50.0	then moves down its launch rail.
0:52.0	It catches air and lifts off.
0:55.6	For the first time in history,
0:57.4	a piloted engine-powered airplane is in flight
1:01.0	for 12 seconds and 120 feet.
1:04.8	However brief, it is the fateful moment
1:07.6	when the skies are open to mankind
1:10.1	and future development of aerial commerce
1:12.3	and warfare is made possible,
1:14.0	changing human civilization forever. Hello and welcome to American History Hit. I'm Don Wildman nice to have you.
1:31.6	Most people in the world today are able to name those aviation pioneers who developed the first successful
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.