Transcript

The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast

From American History Tellers · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 40 min · 6,904 words · 44 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast", an episode of American History Tellers published January 1, 2025 (40 min, about 6,904 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Kittyhawk, octave shenut, Canton, Ohio.

What this episode is about

The Wright Brothers' pioneering experiments with a kite glider in 1899 mark a significant milestone in aviation history, showcasing their innovative approach to flight through hands-on testing and meticulous engineering. This narrative highlights their determination to conquer the challenge of human flight, reflecting both their ingenuity and the excitement of discovery.

Key takeaways

  • 1899: The Wright brothers' kite crash foreshadows a future where failure is merely a stepping stone to success.
  • Childhood curiosity fueled the Wrights: from toy helicopters to gliders, imagination knows no age limit.
  • A kite crash in Dayton was just practice; innovation thrives on trial, error, and a good sense of humor.
  • Wilbur and Orville weren't just dreamers; they aimed to turn aviation into America's thriving new industry against skepticism.
  • In the age without tech, the Wright brothers proved that creativity and persistence can break through earthly bounds.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Orville Wright, Canton, Ohio, Kittyhawk, Kittyhawk, North Carolina
  2. – 10:00: Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Canton, Ohio, American Wheelman
  3. – 15:00: Otto Lilienthal, Canton, Ohio, Samuel Langley
  4. – 20:00: Kittyhawk, octave shenut, Wilbur Wright, Canton, Ohio
  5. – 25:00: Kittyhawk, Wilbur Wright
  6. – 30:00: Kittyhawk, Canton, Ohio, octave shenut, Samuel Langley
  7. – 35:00: Kittyhawk, octave shenut
  8. – 39:52: Samuel Langley, Kittyhawk, octave shenut, Birdman

Notable quotes from "The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast"

  • In their Direction hey boys stand over there please out of the way my brother and I are working your younger brother Orville gives them a friendly wave I mean you can watch but…
    about Orville Wright · at
  • You how the events of the times affected them their families and affects you now in the mid 1890s two brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright began building a small glider in the…
    about Wilbur Wright · at
  • Crash you laugh because lately your brother has been obsessed with the news about the German inventor alter lilienthal who died after crashing an experimental glider he was…
    about Otto Lilienthal · at
  • Brothers then decided to build a larger flying machine one that could carry a pilot then in May of 1900 Wilbur wrote to an aeronautical Pioneer the French American engineer and…
    about octave shenut · at
  • Machine and their theories based on Shen's suggestions and information from the US weather bureau they chose a desolate location 700 M away from their home in Dayton until now…
    about Kittyhawk, North Carolina · at
  • The storm finally eased around midnight they dropped anchor and slept on board Wilbur reached Kittyhawk the following night relieved that at least his glider hadn't gone…
    about Kittyhawk · at
  • When they came back to Kittyhawk it would be with a bigger better machine back home in Dayton Ohio in early 1901 Wilbur wrote again to octave shenut to explain how he and orbal…
    about Canton, Ohio · at
  • And told him about the wri brother's successes he encouraged Langley to go see for himself but when Langley sent a wire to Kittyhawk asking the rights if he might visit they…
    about Samuel Langley · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Orville Wright — Person · Primary historical protagonist (Wright brother) · 3 mentions · first at
    Co-leads the experimentation and provides key innovations in control (advocating a movable rear rudder); participates in Kitty Hawk tests and iterative rebuilds that move the project toward controlled flight.
  • Wilbur Wright — Person · Primary historical protagonist (Wright brother) · 3 mentions · first at
    Central figure driving the episode’s narrative: initiates correspondence with the Smithsonian and Chanute, pilots early glider tests at Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills, and advances control concepts like wing-warping.
  • octave shenut — Person · Referenced mentor/advocate and aviation authority · 7 mentions · first at
    Acts as an expert advisor and champion: recommends test locations, visits and validates the Wrights’ progress, provides instrumentation (anemometer), promotes Wilbur’s talk, and relays their success to Langley.
  • Samuel Langley — Person · Referenced competitor and establishment-backed aviation experimenter · 6 mentions · first at
    Serves as the well-funded, highly publicized contrast to the Wrights’ scrappy approach; his Smithsonian/War Department-backed Aerodrome program heightens the competitive stakes and the Wrights’ sense of being overlooked.
  • Otto Lilienthal — Person · Referenced pioneer; inspirational predecessor · 4 mentions · first at
    Represents the leading edge of pre-Wright gliding and the dangers of flight; his death motivates Wilbur’s renewed obsession and frames the Wrights’ goal to improve control and safety.

Books & papers

  • David McCullough — Book · Referenced work · 2 mentions
    Mentioned as a recommended source for learning more about the Wright brothers, indicating its relevance to the episode's historical context.
  • Birdman — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at
    Another recommended book for understanding the Wright brothers and the early history of aviation, providing additional context to the episode.
    Forward if you'd like to learn more about the wri brothers we recommend the wght brothers by David McCulla and birdmen by Lawrence Goldstone American history tellers is hosted…

Places & events

  • Kittyhawk — Place · Setting · 18 mentions · first at
    Primary location where the Wright brothers conducted their glider tests, crucial for their aviation experiments due to its steady winds and sandy terrain.
  • Canton, Ohio — Place · Headquarters · 6 mentions · first at
    Home of the Wright brothers, where they built their bicycles and initial gliders, serving as the base for their aviation experiments.
  • Kittyhawk, North Carolina — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Primary location where the Wright brothers conducted their glider tests, crucial for its steady winds and open spaces.
  • American Wheelman — Event · Historical event · 1 mention · first at
    A traveling bicycle exposition that inspired Wilbur Wright to open a bicycle shop, marking a pivotal moment in the Wright brothers' journey towards aviation.
    Exposition called American Wheelman stopped in Dayton and inspired Wilbur to try something new he decided to open the right cycle company where he sold and repaired bikes…

Sponsors

  • Katherine Wright — Person · Referenced family supporter and confidante · 1 mention · first at
    Frames the Wrights’ family context and emotional support system; she is repeatedly cited as influential, present during formative years, and a recipient of Orville’s letters from Kitty Hawk.
    Just as they were ready to start flying a massive cloud of mosquitoes swarmed the area Orville wrote to his sister to describe how the insects nearly blocked out the Sun and…

Full transcript with timestamps

wondering imagine it's a breezy August afternoon in 1899 and you're standing in a field on the outskirts of Dayton Ohio you're a bicycle maker but today you've left the bicycles behind in the shop to test a theory you've become obsessed with you and your brother are going to fly a kite but not any kind it's a prototype of a glider you dream of one day flying in yourself as you assemble your materials on the grass you notice a few boys have gathered to watch you nod in their Direction hey boys stand over there please out of the way my brother and I are working your younger brother Orville gives them a friendly wave I mean you can watch but stay off the field we don't want anyone getting hurt you finish assembling the large kite which consists of two rectangular wings each 5 ft long and 18 in wide stacked on top of each other they're separated by vertical struts and all of it is held together by wire Orville

looks over to you for instruction and you hand him a length of cord all right let's get these lines tied to the end of each wing all right just make sure the other ends are tight tight if we want to control the kite's movements all these lines need to be taught once the lines have been secured you grasp a wooden control stick in your hand while your brother takes another all right you ready I'm ready you each lift one end of the kite and hoist it in the air until the breeze catches it in an instant it's 20 ft overhead and then 30 you weren't sure it was going to fly so easily but now you're amazed to see it magically dancing on the Wind looks like it's working let the line out slowly let's go a bit higher oh she is beautiful you feel a surge of excitement you're one step closer to solving a problem that has entranced and inspired mankind forever how to swar like the birds you only wish your father and your sister

Catherine were here to see this all right I'm going to try turning her now but suddenly there's too much slack in one of the lines and the glider begins diving pull pull pull I can't control her watch out boys the glider is headed straight for the boys who scatter and dive to avoid getting hit you watch as your prototype smashes to the ground and into pieces a darn it you throw the control stick to the ground in frustration then you turn to your brother who's chuckling oh and what's so funny well we learned what not to do you feel your anger subside and your mood lightened a bit it's impossible not to appreciate your brother's optimism well I suppose we did back to the drawing board eh as the boys nearby jeer at you Orville gathers up the pieces of the broken kite you know next time let's build the glider three times larger I mean the idea is that someday we're going to be riding this thing right yeah

that's that's right you know you and your brother share the same lofty dream to build a flying machine that can carry a man into the sky and despite the crash landing today's test feels like a promising step in that

direction from wondery I'm Lindsey Graham and this is American history tellers our history your story on our show we'll take you to the events the times and the people that shaped America and Americans our values our struggles and our dreams we'll put you in the shoes of everyday people as history was being made and we'll show you how the events of the times affected them their families and affects you now in the mid 1890s two brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright began building a small glider in the workshop above their bicycle shop in Dayton Ohio the two devout sons of a clergyman had a natural inclination towards science and mechanics and after developing an interest in the burgeoning field of Aeronautics the self-trained brothers decided to devote themselves to what we'll recall the problem of flight so in the fall of 19 00 the rits traveled to the remote Windswept Dunes of North Carolina's Outer Banks to begin testing

their first full-sized glider large enough for a human to Pilot for the next 3 years they would return to the small town of Kittyhawk testing and adjusting their flying machines determined to successfully complete the first powered controlled airplane flight but more than becoming the first to fly the R Brothers nursed an ambitious vision for their inventions and for themselves despite initial disinterest and skepticism from the media and scientific Community Wilbur and Orville hoped to build a business Empire that would capture the world's attention and prove that Aviation was America's future this is episode one in our three-part series on the R Brothers the art of the bird in 1884 Bishop Milton wri and his wife Susan settled into a modest home in Dayton Ohio with their three younger children Wilbur Orville and Katherine their two oldest Sons Lauren and roylin had already moved out of the house and

while for years the family had moved from town to town due to Milton's job as an itinerant clergyman with the Church of the United Brethren now with the rights two older Sons on their own the rest of the family looked forward to a period of stability in Dayton 13-year-old Orville and 17-year-old Wilbur became known around the neighborhood as will Andor or The Bishop's boys along with their 10-year-old sister Katherine the rri brothers were raised in a disciplined deeply religious home although there was no electricity or indoor plumbing and meals were cooked over a wood stove the right household was full of books and toys for the children to play with Orville would later say that he and Wilbur were lucky enough to grow up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to pursue intellectual interests to investigate whatever aroused our curiosity by the age of 10 Orville had begun building toy

kites sometimes selling them to classmates and when their father brought home a rubber band powered toy helicopter the boys played with it until they broke it then figured out how to build their own replacement Orville was gentle and shy but also known for causing Mischief at school Wilber was more social athletic and academically inclined and by high school there was talk of sending him to Yale but in 1886 while playing hockey another boy hit Wilbur in the face with a hockey stick knocking at his front teeth homebound after this incident Wilbur became depressed and his studies fell by the wayside by then their mother Susan had become ill with tuberculosis and required constant care Susan Wright was the brains of the family her father had been a carriage maker and as a child she spent many hours in his Workshop learning to work with his tools and before her illness she built sleds and toys for her children and it was from

her that Wilbur and Orville inherited their gift for mechanics they both loved to work with their hands and make things which their mother encouraged in 1889 after working summers at a local print shop 18-year-old Orville left High School to start his own printing business in a carriage house behind their home but that summer Susan Wright died of her illness she was just 58 years old and the family was devastated after the death of their mother Wilbur joined Orwell's printing business and together they started publishing a weekly newspaper the Westside news it made a small profit and in 1890 became a daily the evening item but 4 months later they closed the item to focus on their more profitable printing business by their early 20s it was clear the R Brothers had become as their father once said Inseparable as twins they both played music and liked to cook neither drank or smoked both were painfully shy

around women and neither seemed interested in marrying Wilbur once said he had no time for a wife but they remained close to their sister Katherine who had a deep influence on the two brothers especially after their mother died Katherine was more outgoing than her auntie social brothers and soon became the only family member to attend college with plans to become a school teacher Orville and Wilbur were content with their small commercial printing business but in 1892 a traveling bicycle Exposition called American Wheelman stopped in Dayton and inspired Wilbur to try something new he decided to open the right cycle company where he sold and repaired bikes Orville was intrigued by his brother's new Venture and asked a family friend to run the printing company while he joined Wilbur's new shop the brothers soon expanded their business and started making their own bicycles selling them for $65 each about

$2,400 today and in their free time they began to explore a long-simmering interest in gliders and Kites and by the summer of 1896 with a cycle shop profitable the industrious Brothers began to devote more time to their growing interest in aviation Wilbur especially had developed a near obsessive curiosity with birds and the science of flying a subject he read about constantly but that summer Orville contracted typhoid and doctors said there wasn't much they could do and that Orville might die this frightened Wilbur Who spent countless hours by his sick brother's side imagine it's a cool afternoon in late September 1896 and you're riding beside your brother in one of your handbuilt bicycles the eyes you weily as you slowly pedal along the path that runs along the Miami River now you sure you're up for this I don't want you overdoing it absolutely I mean if I have to spend another day in that stuffy room

I'll explode for 6 weeks you've been in your bedroom on Hawthorne Street in Dayton Ohio suffering from a severe bout of typhoid and drifting in and out of Consciousness your brother and sister nursed you through Reading to as your temperature sometimes spiked to 105 but now you're finally recovering and thrilled to be out of the house well the doctor did say the fresh air would do you good although I wonder if you're just trying to get out of having me read to you more about Lilian doll's crash you laugh because lately your brother has been obsessed with the news about the German inventor alter lilienthal who died after crashing an experimental glider he was flying no I really I appreciate all the things you read to me even in my delirium I feel like I got an education in the art of the bird ah well you were listening after all okay well you know they say his last words were sacrif IES must be

made I guess they were I don't know sounds like someone made that up but he was the Pioneer wasn't he yeah designed a dozen gliders I mean his understanding of the mechanics of flight his development of the wing went far beyond anyone else I that man was Fearless suddenly your brother comes to a stop and he looks into the sky off to your left what is it but he doesn't answer you stop and look in the same direction where a turkey Buzzard is circling he just mounts his bike and walks over to you looking very serious well now listen I've been thinking I can tell no seriously I have an idea I think we should pick up where Lili and Thal left off what flying gliders into the ground no Lilian Thal crashed plenty of times and survived he just got unlucky this time see look look at that Buzzard he knows how to rise how to float how to use the wind that's what we should do what do you want us to do close the

bicycle shop and study birds no we can't close the shop of course we'd need the income to pay for our experiments experiments yeah build a glider of our own better than Lilian thals you're serious aren't you on Dead series just like Lilian Thal said it's not enough to Simply want to fly like the bird we need to gain an understanding of the problem of flight we'll study how man can fly the way birds can fly in control working with the wind not against it that's the Art of Flight you look at your brother and you haven't seen him this energized in quite a while you also share his fascination with the possibility of flight you know he's smart enough to do just about anything he sets his mind to and clearly he set his mind on this well I mean if you're in I'm in we're a team right let's just hope this doesn't kill one of us you grin with excitement but you know that flying can be a deadly business and

that more than a few men have lost their lives trying to keep their experimental machines in the air but you're determined that with your mechanical knowhow and your brother's knack for numbers and Theory you can succeed Ed where others have failed in the summer of 1896 as Orville battled typhoid Wilbur had sat by his side and read to him about birds experimental gliders and the German innovator Otto lilienthal the Wright brothers had both shown interest in flying machines as kids but in the late 1890s Wilbur's revived curiosity and passion infected them both at the time gas-powered automobiles had begun to appear on the dirt streets of Dayton and Orville initially wanted to try building his own car but Wilbur convinced him they should build a glider instead by 1898 their bicycle shop had become successful bringing in $3,000 a year and that gave them the funds they needed to start experimenting with homemade flying

machines Orville and Wilbur had no training no funding and no real expertise but they threw themselves into studying Birds and the work of other flying enthusiasts hungry for even more information in May 18 99 Wilbur sat down to write a letter to the Smithsonian institution in Washington the r brothers were familiar with flying experiments conducted by the smithsonian's head secretary Samuel Langley and in his letter Wilbur explained that he had been interested in the problem of mechanical and human flight ever since I was a boy he went on to say he was about to begin a systematic study of the subject and asked for any papers the Smithsonian had published he declared that he believed human flight is possible and practical and also insisted he was an Enthusiast but not a crank at the time engineers and adventurers around the globe had been pursuing various schemes to reach the skies the earliest successful Flyers

had been aboard hot air balloons which became known as lighter than air machines they required wind to carry them from point A to B but the Wright brothers were more interested in gliders known as heavier than air machines the best known glider tests had been conducted by German Otto lilienthal who was killed in 1896 in the United States the field had been Advanced by the writings and Wing designs of a chicago-based engineer octave shenut and by Samuel Langley who had successfully flown unmanned steam powered gliders through the 1890s and begun working toward an engine powerered glider that could carry a pilot that was the rright brothers goal too a controlled powered heavier than air glider the Smithsonian responded to Wilbur's request with a list of books and sent along a number of pamphlets on Aviation which the brothers devoured Wilbur had developed a theory he called Wing warping which he believed

was the key to controll flight he once used an empty cardboard box to explain it to his brother and sister if he twisted one end of the Box the other end Twisted in the opposite direction this was similar to the way Birds tipped up the end of One Wing to turn in the opposite direction for a glider to warp in this manner Wilbur believed its wings should be flexible and not rigid to begin testing this theory in 1899 the brothers crafted their first glider in the workshop above their cycle shop it consisted of two 5-ft Wings stacked 18 in apart they attached four cords two on each end to control the wings similar to the way a puppeteer controls a marionette after successfully testing the glider in a field that summer the brothers then decided to build a larger flying machine one that could carry a pilot then in May of 1900 Wilbur wrote to an aeronautical Pioneer the French American engineer and flying Enthusiast

octave shenut shanut had immigrated to the United States in 1838 and was a respected civil engineer who helped design and build Bridges and railroads as well as America's two largest stockyards in Chicago and Kansas City in his retirement he became interested in aviation and in 1894 shano published an influential book called progress in flying machines which Wilbur had read to Orville during his recovery from typhoid now wrote to shenut seeking advice on where he and Orville should fly their new glider knowing that they needed a place with steady winds to test the machine and their theories based on Shen's suggestions and information from the US weather bureau they chose a desolate location 700 M away from their home in Dayton until now their interest and experiments had been mostly theoretical but they knew that to get their glider into the air they'd have to take an incredible risk

by the summer of 1900 Wilbur and oral Wright were ready to start testing the full-sized glider they built in their Dayton Ohio Workshop they needed a wide openen testing ground with steady winds and no rain and ideally someplace Sandy to cushion any crashes based on these criteria the civil engineer octave shanut has suggested they consider Florida California South Carolina or Georgia then Wilbur received a letter from the US weather bureau that included monthly wind velocities from more than 100 weather stations around the country one location stood out Kittyhawk North Carolina Wilbur wrote to the weather station at Kittyhawk and in August 1900 received a reply from the town's former postmaster a fisherman named William Tate in his letter Tate described the sand dunes and steady winds on the North End of North Carolina's narrow Barrier Island known as the Outer Banks Tate then suggested the brother's visit and

offered his Services writing I will take pleasure in doing all I can for your convenience encouraged by Tate's offer the rites finished work on their glider then carefully took it apart and packed it into crates they decided Wilbur would travel to Kittyhawk in early September to set up a camp and test area and Orville would follow a few weeks later Wilbur was now 33 and Orville 29 and the farthest either brother had ever traveled from home was to Chicago for the World's Fair 7 years earlier Kittyhawk was much farther away and would be no easy trip Wilbur's train ride to Norfolk Virginia took 24 hours from there it took another day to reach Elizabeth City North Carolina when he missed the weekly mailboat out to the Outer Banks he was forced to spend another four days trying to find someone who could Ferry him and his crated up glider the final 40 Mi across to Kittyhawk desperate Wilbur finally hired

a man with a filthy and rat infested Schooner they left Shore the afternoon of September 11th but just hours into the crossing they ran into a violent storm that shredded the sails and threatened to sink The Leaky boat when the storm finally eased around midnight they dropped anchor and slept on board Wilbur reached Kittyhawk the following night relieved that at least his glider hadn't gone overboard by the time his brother Orville reached Kittyhawk two weeks later Wilbur had made a new friend William Bill Tate the fisherman and for former postmaster who had encouraged them to come he had helped Wilbur set up his makeshift camp and together they began assembling the rights glider with just 50 small homes in Kittyhawk most occupied by fishermen and their families the sight of the right flying machine became an instant curiosity also curious were the brothers themselves locals observed that they usually dressed as if

for church and often argued with each other but said little to strangers they also worked relentlessly to assemble their strange and complicated machine they slept in a tent sometimes shivering beneath blankets as cold winds blew outside when the wind was too strong for flying they watched the many Shorebirds and took notes and by early October the rright brothers full-size glider was finally assembled and ready to test it consisted of two identical Wings 17 ft by 5 ft each wrapped in white Satine Fabric and mounted on wood framing held together by wire a flat Rudder section they called an elevator jutted out the front designed to control up and down motion the glider had no tail and weighed roughly 50 lb the brothers first tested their machine as a kite holding on to it and steering with ropes from the ground similar to how Wilbur had flown the first smaller glider back in Dayton the year before but at Kittyhawk

steady Winds of 15 to 20 mph and occasionally gusting up to 30 made it difficult to prevent the glider from soaring off in fact one day a sudden gust flipped the glider as it lay on the ground and sent Orville flying 20 ft the glider was smashed and took several days to repair but finally after two weeks of testing taking notes and making adjustments Wilbur was ready to fly the glider himself lying flat in a small Gap in the middle of the lower wing he would control the glider using his feet to nudge a t-shaped wooden device connected by wires to the wings a slight push left or right would twist the wings and turn the glider in either direction he control up and down movement using a lever that tilted the elevator in front of him after climbing in and preparing for his test Wilbur managed to get airborne a few times but only for short Hops and low to the ground he needed more speed and height if he had any

chance of staying in the air and that's when Bill Tate had an idea imagine that's October 19th 1900 you're a fisherman and former postmaster in the coastal North Carolina town of Kittyhawk for weeks you've been helping two bicycle makers from Ohio who've come to your Windswept town to fly their homemade glider at first you thought they were crazy but you've been impressed by their hard work and fearlessness after watching one of the brothers crash the glider a few days ago though you suggested they tried launching from a higher location a series of high Dunes 4 miles away so today you're helping them drag their glider and Equipment up to Kill Devil Hills as you trudge through the sand beside Orville as ascending the 100t Dune known as Big Hill the wind kicks up and you start to realize this might have been a mistake h i I don't know you sure about this wind's much more intense up here it can easily gust the 30 even 40

mph well it is risky for sure but we need more wind if we can get a steady 30 mph I think that's ideal for take off and you can handle up to 40 I believe so well at least with the steeper drop you'll get more momentum sliding down the launch rails and a down slope to land on we don't want another repeat of last time last time was a first good flight but we need more lift more wind and more time in the air to work out the Kinks of the controls as you reach the top of big hill you catch your breath and take in The View with a blue green Atlantic less than a mile to the east r Oak sound to the west and the Rolling Dunes to the north a that's beautiful isn't it not a tree or bush inside just sand and more sand but orille isn't paying attention to the view well we've got work to do let's get the launch rail set up you join the R Brothers as they begin to assemble the wooden rails that you hope will launch their glider to the sky

but you also hope it wasn't a bad idea to bring them up to Big Hill you'd hate for your suggestion to cause one of the R Brothers to get seriously hurt on October 19th after weeks of testing near Kittyhawk the rights agreed with Bill Tate's suggestion to drag their glider up to to the high Dunes known as Kill Devil Hills there Wilbur made his first truly successful flights soaring 100 yards and reaching speeds of 30 mph except for a few crashes that required repairs Wilbur managed to stay airborne for 15 seconds at a time easily the longest flights the RS had made during their time there but Bill Tate and other observers who witnessed Wilbur's crashes were convinced the brothers were crazy to take such risks 5 days later the RS packed up to leave the combined total time in the air of Wilbur's flights was only about 2 minutes but they were satisfied with their accomplishments their battered

machine had served its purpose so they left it behind and Bill Tate's wife salvaged the Satine fabric from the wings to make dresses for their daughters Orville and Wilbur had thrived at Kittyhawk despite many hardships and they returned home to Dayton determined to learn and experiment more so that when they came back to Kittyhawk it would be with a bigger better machine back home in Dayton Ohio in early 1901 Wilbur wrote again to octave shenut to explain how he and orbal were now building what they believed would be the largest glider ever constructed shanut wrote back saying he'd be passing through Dayton and wanted to visit the wrs were grateful for the interest of a respected aviation pioneer like shenut but they also preferred working without visitors or Interruption Wilbur warned shenut that he and his brother were putting in 14-hour days on the new glider though they would be willing to

see him on their day off a Sunday Shin arrived on a Wednesday but the two wri brothers and their father and sister welcomed him into their home anyway before he left Shino gave the brothers a gift a French animet an instrument that measured wind speed to help them with their upcoming flight tests then that July the rits headed back to Kittyhawk with their new glider arriving just after a hurricane had swept over the Outer Banks this time the RS camp at the foot of Kill Devil Hills closer to their launching ground and in setting up camp they were eager to improve their living conditions with a help from Bill Tate they drove a 12-ft pipe into the sand to get drinking water and had Lumber shipped over to build a shed that served as a workshop and sleeping quarters but despite the improved accommodations they still had to contend with the unpredictability of nature on July 18th just as they were ready to start flying

a massive cloud of mosquitoes swarmed the area Orville wrote to his sister to describe how the insects nearly blocked out the Sun and complained that their bites covered his body leaving lumps the size of hen's eggs but finally on July 27th the mosquitoes cleared and the brothers were ready to begin testing their glider again Wilbur was the pilot Bill Tate and his brother Dan helped Orville carry the glider back up to its launch spot after every one of Wilbur's flights unfortunately this new machine performed poorly worse than the previous year's glider Wilbur found it difficult to get enough lift and when they made adjustments to the front elevator it created too much lift Wilbur declared that something was radically wrong he and Orville tore apart the wings and rebuilt them with less curvature hoping that flattening them would help and by early August they were ready to try again now with the reconstructed Wings

the glider performed better reaching speeds of 20 mph but there were still some control issues and in one crash Wilbur badly bruised his face face and ribs still with every flight they managed to achieve a little bit more success octave shanut who had come to visit for a few days thought the flights were quite impressive after watching Wilbur sail 100 yards at a time and skimming the ground for smooth Landings Shen left Kittyhawk convinced that the rights had made more progress than anyone else in the flying game so far but the brothers on the other hand returned home to Dayton dejected on the train ride West in late August 1901 Wilbur complained that many of their calculations seemed worthless and they were still just groping in the dark it had been a rough summer of rain and mosquitoes and in a rare expression of Gloom Wilbur told Orville that not in a thousand years would man fly they soon

realized that they would have to rethink everything and cast aside all their previous assumptions in order to crack the code of flight in the summer of 1901 the race to create a flying machine was picking up pace inventors in Britain France and elsewhere were launching experimental aircraft Skyward but by the turn of the century one of the most promising and best known was the large multi-wing machine being developed by Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian institution based on the success of the unmanned steampowered gliders he had flown in the 1890s Lang had received $50,000 in grant funding from the United States war department to build his newest machine a dinosaur looking beast called the Great Aerodrome by comparison the rights glider really an oversized kite seemed like a modest competitor to Langley's well-funded wellp publicized invention and while Langley received public funds and agulation for the press the right

Brothers worked mostly in obscurity and on their own dime so it was especially discouraging to return home from Kittyhawk with less than Stellar results but the brothers did what they always did got back to work in their shop optimism determination and recovery from setback came naturally to them or will later say that during rough patches there was some spirit that carried us through they also had an eager Champion an octave shenut who had been impressed by the flights he witnessed at Kittyhawk in late August of 1901 just days after returning home the wres received a letter from shenut he wanted Wilbur to come to Chicago and speak about their experiments before a meeting of the western Society of Engineers Wilbur reluctantly agreed and on September 18th he nervously delivered an address he called some aeronautical experiments this would be the first public account of the wri brothers glider flights and

their theories on flying in the years ahead it would be quoted frequently becoming something of a Bible for future Aeronautics enthusiasts in his address which was later published in the Society of Engineers Journal Wilbur made the point that practical experiments were essential to progress telling the audience if you really wish to learn you must mount a machine and become acquainted with his tricks by actual trial and a few months after giving this talk on January 25th 1902 the Wright brothers received their first ever mention in the press a brief article in the Dayton Daily News that said their successful experiments in North Carolina might revolutionize the work of experts in making tests of aerial navigation the the two brothers appreciated the recognition but they were already looking ahead to next year's trip to Kittyhawk and there was much work to be done so in the second floor Workshop

above their bicycle shop they built a wind tunnel to conduct tests on Wing shapes this 6ot long wooden box had a high-powered fan at one end at the other they tested the effect of the air on miniature Wings they made with old hacksaw blades cut into different sizes and hammered and bent into different shapes they tested the aerodynamic performance of each tiny Wing by attaching them to a Contraption consisting of the rim of a bicycle wheel mounted on the handlebars of another bicycle octave shenut knew the brothers were using their own funds for their Scrappy homemade tests so he offered to help find them a financial Patron like Andrew carnegi who sheno knew personally Wilbur politely declined telling sheno they intended to keep paying for all their own equipment and experiments with profits from the bicycle shop the brothers had decided early on that they'd rather control their experiments

and own any future patents without entering into a relationship with an outside partner this decision to keep their work of family Enterprise would contribute to the reputation as secretive and insular it also meant they'd have to constantly raise their own funding and in fact they couldn't afford to build their next glider until they sold enough bicycles to pay for it the end result of all their hard work the wind tunnel tests and further tinkering was a redesigned glider with reshaped and much larger wings at 32 ft long they were nearly twice the size of the glider Wilbur had flown 2 years earlier and in September of 1902 the brothers disassembled the glider packed it up in crates and returned to Kittyhawk for the third time for weeks they assembled their camp at Kill Devil Hills including a more elaborate shed that served as sleeping quarters and a workshop where they reassembled their

third full-size glider but then they received a surprise visit from their older brother Lauren followed by another unexpected visitor octave chenut Wilbur and Orville preferred working alone and rather than welcoming the support they were irked by having guests they also didn't like sharing their Works Space and cramped living quarters so by the time they were ready for Orville to take his turn at piloting his first ever flights the brothers were both in foul moods then on one of his test flights Orville crashed the brothers spent the next few days arguing over what went wrong and how to fix it imagine it's October 3rd 1902 you and your younger brother are standing in your workshed sawing wood for a wing frame you've been at Kitty Hawk for nearly a month and the initial glider tests were going well you even commenced Orville to finally make his first flights but a few days ago you watched

in horror as he rose straight up more than 30 ft in the air bearded hard right and then crashed into the sand you were relieved that he wasn't badly hurt but the glider was in pieces so now you're trying to repair it all the while you and your brother haven't stopped arguing about what went wrong I still say you forgot to use a front Rudder it'll take at least 3 days to make these repairs I didn't forget the front Rudder isn't the problem there's something wrong with the rear Rudder it's causing the machine to Skid sideways now you just need more practice making turns I've had plenty of practice brother I really think it's the rudder that's the problem so I have an idea what if we replace the fixed rear Rudder with a larger one that moved something we could control and give us another way to offset the drag what and take the whole machine apart again well not necessarily I mean if we remove the

two vertical fins and built a Single Fin Runner maybe 5 ft High we could make it hinged a rear Runner that's hinged not fixed how would we control it we can't keep adding components it's going to get too complicated to fly no we could control it and it wouldn't be that complicated we can connect the rudder to a cradle on the wing beneath our hips maybe when we twist our hips to tilt the wings and turn that twisting motion turns the rear Rudder at the same time not well well actually you normally scoff at orvel's ideas and to be honest at almost any idea that's not yours but this time you're surprised to realize that your brother might be on to something you think this might give us more control well it prevent the drag and the skidding I've been feeling in the air well let's build this new run of yours okay when right now you realize that your resistance to other people's ideas and the constant

bickering with your brother aren't your best qualities something your sister has pointed out time after time then again on days like today sometimes these battles of will end up leading to new ideas and your brother's suggestion may be a significant step forward the right Brothers had constructed their third glider based on wind tunnel tests they conducted in late 1901 and early 1902 and during initial flights at Kill Devil Hills in late September of 1902 it performed well enough but after Orville crashed and repairs were needed he argued they should rethink and refine the control system by building a new movable reader Rudder this was a significant Improvement in their ability to control the glider in the air octave shenut and the wri's older brother Lauren witnessed a few of these successful flights and after they left Wilbur and orbal stayed continuing turns flying through mid October they made hundreds of test

flights some of them very short but all providing valuable data despite dealing with cold weather heavy rain and subsisting largely on canned beans the two brothers were elated by their most successful set of test flights so far Wilbur wrote to his father we now believe that the flying problem is really nearing its solution after leaving the Outer Banks octave shenut briefly visited Samuel Langley at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and told him about the wri brother's successes he encouraged Langley to go see for himself but when Langley sent a wire to Kittyhawk asking the rights if he might visit they told him it was too late they were packing up to leave back home in Dayton the rights read stories about Langley who had continued to develop his Aerodrome flying machine and in early 1903 Langley announced plans to begin testing it by launching it from a large house booat on the pomac river

near the nation's capital Wilbur and Orville may have enjoyed scrapping with one another but they rarely got bothered by competitors yet in the aftermath of their successful flights at the Outer Banks and now reading about Langley's attempts they began to feel slighted they had flown farther and longer than anyone in a heavier than air machine but still received limited recognition from the press or the scientific Community overshadowed by well- financed experiments like Langley's they were still just a curiosity two strange straight lace bicycle makers from Ohio and if they wanted to pull ahead in the race toward fly they needed more power than just the winds off Kittyhawk so the R Brothers would have to make an Innovative breakthrough to gain the Acclaim and recognition they felt they deserve from wondery this is episode one of our three-part series The R Brothers from American history tellers on the

next episode as Samuel Langley attempts to launch his highly anticipated aerody Drome machine before large crowds outside Washington on the sand dunes of North Carol Carina's Outer Banks the rght brothers make a Leap

Forward if you'd like to learn more about the wri brothers we recommend the wght brothers by David McCulla and birdmen by Lawrence Goldstone American history tellers is hosted edited and produced by Me Lindsey gr for Airship audio editing by Christian paraga sound design by Molly Bach music by Lindsey Graham this episode is written by Thompson edited by Dorian Marina produced by Alita rosansky managing producers are Desi block and Matt Gant senior managing producer Ryan lore senior producer Andy Herman executive producers are Jenny low Beckman Marshall Louie and aono flarity for wondering

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast"?

Lindsey Graham (Host), Wilbur Wright (Guest), Orville Wright (Guest), Bill Tate (Guest), Octave Chanute (Guest).

What is "The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast" about?

The Wright Brothers' pioneering experiments with a kite glider in 1899 mark a significant milestone in aviation history, showcasing their innovative approach to flight through hands-on testing and meticulous engineering. This narrative highlights their determination to conquer the challenge of human flight, reflecting both their ingenuity and the excitement of discovery.

What is mentioned in this American History Tellers episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Kittyhawk, octave shenut, Canton, Ohio, Kittyhawk, North Carolina. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Wright Brothers | The Art of the Bird | American History Tellers | Podcast"?

The episode runs 40 min; the transcript is about 6,904 words in 44 timestamped sections.

More from American History Tellers

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 22, 2026.