great book

[SteveP]

Ive been really enjoying Mccullaghs new book on the
Wright Brothers.

Great author, love his books.

[davids]

I love you Pooch, but I didn't love that book.

[SteveP]

I love you Pooch, but I didn't love that book.

I might join facebook, friend you and then unfriend you for spite.

[ron l edmiston]

I might join facebook, friend you and then unfriend you for spite.

--- what an ole man learned so well on hastings pond years back ---- "true friendship has no boundary.."

with a memory smile and respect..,

ronnie

[davids]

I might join facebook, friend you and then unfriend you for spite.

Here's my issue with the book:

The Wright brothers were brilliant, dedicated scientists. They went off on their own, put their heads down, and solved the problems of aeronautics. Problems no one else had been able to solve. In addition to flying the first airplane, they figured out lift, invented the wing, and created the windtunnel. I mean, look up in the sky. Those planes up there right now are using the solutions that these guys figured out in a storefront, in some dunes, and above a field.

McCoullaugh shares some great stories. I think my favorite was that they were off flying at the field next to the Dayton streetcar line for, what, a year? With commuters riding by. And no one seemed to notice that they were flying.

But I wanted him to tell the story of how they figured it out. The science was missing, and that is a gaping hole at the center of their importance. I think the Smithsonian's exhibit tells that story well, btw.

[Saab2000]

A few years ago, after my father died, my mother suggested a family vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We spent a number of days there and my brother and I went to Kitty Hawk to the dunes and the museum where all this stuff took place. It's a very interesting museum and definitely worth of an afternoon if anyone gets to the Outer Banks area.

Not only were the Wright Brothers brilliant in solving the aforementioned issues, they were brave. The original Wright Flyer is a notoriously unstable machine and attempts to recreate the first flight don't go well. Airplanes got better very quickly, but the first one was little more than a manned box kit with an engine.

Anyone with any interest on this subject would be well served by a stop in Kitty Hawk, NC.

[davids]

A few years ago, after my father died, my mother suggested a family vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We spent a number of days there and my brother and I went to Kitty Hawk to the dunes and the museum where all this stuff took place. It's a very interesting museum and definitely worth of an afternoon if anyone gets to the Outer Banks area.

Not only were the Wright Brothers brilliant in solving the aforementioned issues, they were brave. The original Wright Flyer is a notoriously unstable machine and attempts to recreate the first flight don't go well. Airplanes got better very quickly, but the first one was little more than a manned box kit with an engine.

Anyone with any interest on this subject would be well served by a stop in Kitty Hawk, NC.

OK, now I'm going to compliment the book: One of the things it does well is tell the story of the steady development of their plane, from the Kitty Hawk gliders to the first flight (complete with a real-time photo of the moment, a staggering achievement), and then back to a Dayton farmer's field (the one next to the streetcar line), where they turned that "notoriously unstable" first airplane into an agile machine.

Orville and Wilbur were giants. I just wish McCullough could have explained the "how" as well as the "what".

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