logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2023
45m 58s

The Wright Brothers

History Hit
About this episode

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.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Revolutionary War: What If the British Won?
Today we're heading back 250 years to the end of the Revolutionary War - but this time, we're asking what might have happened if the British had won.How would the revolutionaries have been punished? How might the colonies of North America have developed differently? And would ind ... Show More
32m 19s
Jul 7
When Britain Sent Its Convicts to America
Britain shipped convicts to America from the days of Jamestown right up until 1775. More than 50,000 were sent. To explore this too seldom told tale, we are joined by Dr Anna McKay from the University of Liverpool, a historian of prisoners in the British Empire.Edited by Tim Arst ... Show More
27m 47s
Jul 3
Revolutionary War: When Was the Turning Point?
In 1775, revolutionaries went to war against the British. Seeking independence from colonial ties, they fought more than 150 battles over eight years.A relatively new nation of just 2.5 million people facing off against the greatest military power on the planet at that time, it s ... Show More
48m 46s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
The Unlikely Fate of the Wright Brothers
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Wright Brothers changed history when they took the world's first engine-powered flight. It didn't take long for countries around the world to realise that the Wright flying machine had the potential to revolutioni ... Show More
26m 54s
Jun 2023
The Wright Brothers
As long as humans have observed creatures in flight, we have dreamed of taking to the skies ourselves. But Wilbur and Orville Wright were determined to be the ones to turn the dream into reality. So what did they need to learn from the early aviation pioneers who preceded them? A ... Show More
56m 26s
Nov 2022
Wronging the Wrights
It took pride, deceit, and a giant catapult to set off the feud between the Wright brothers and the Smithsonian. On December 17, 1903, the Wrights made history when they flew across a blustery beach in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The airplane they flew that day is now a centerpie ... Show More
34m 59s
Apr 2019
Airplane | The Flight of the June Bug | S14-E1
Think for a moment about some of the pioneering developments from the earliest days of American aviation: The first pilot’s licence; the first flight from one city to another; the first airplane sold commercially. More than a century later, most people attribute these milestones ... Show More
44m 15s
Jan 2018
The Wright Brothers
Orville and Wilbur Wright are famous for their developments in aeronautics. What began in Dayton, Ohio as entertainment later became a scientific passion for the brothers. The Wright Brothers risked their lives, again and again, to make their dream of human flight a reality. Lear ... Show More
43m 49s
Apr 2020
The First Flight Around the World
April 6, 1924. Four planes rest in the water, preparing for take-off. At 8:30 AM, they pick up speed and hit the air. Eight pilots have begun a dangerous mission: to be the first to fly around the world. This will change our future in a way that few could see in 1924. What did it ... Show More
23m 7s
Mar 2018
An Aerial Spectacle in the Wright Brothers' Backyard
The Wright Brothers flew the first practical aircraft through the skies just outside Dayton, Ohio in 1905. Today, that same air space sees wonders Orville and Wilbur could only dream of: fighter jets, bombers, and other aircraft flying upside down, soaring in formations, writing ... Show More
3m 22s
Oct 2023
Wright Brothers (Part 1)
Part 1 covers the the rise of the Wright Brothers, and how they went from frontier bicycle salesmen to aviation researchers. This episode covers some of their early insights into flight, and how their ability to frame the problem of flight differently led to their unparalleled su ... Show More
43m 18s
Jul 2023
Black Boxes: Recording Airplanes' Final Moments
They can survive in lava for half an hour and accelerations of 3,400 Gs. Their beacons can be detected 20,000 feet beneath the waves. Most shocking of all - they aren't actually black! (They're bright orange = the least common colour in nature.) Today it's the invention of the ic ... Show More
32m 11s
Feb 2023
Wright Brothers and Sister and a Smithsonian Spat
The Wright Brothers became the first to fly a controlled powered aircraft with a pilot onboard, but just a few days before, Smithsonian Secretary James Langley almost beat them. His failure didn't stop the Smithsonian from claiming the first flight. But Orville and Wilber weren't ... Show More
33m 55s