Episode Summary
“In 1944, on what would be his last airplane ride in a Lockheed Constellation piloted by Howard Hughes and TWA president Jack Frye, Orville quipped that the Constellation’s wingspan was longer than his entire first flight.”
Gary Smith, Guest Host, This Week in Business History
This episode of “This Week in Business History” discusses one of the really seminal moments from the last century – The Wright Brothers and the Dawn of Modern Aviation. Filling in for Scott W. Luton, special guest host Gary Smith will describe how the brothers first became interested in flight, studied and developed their theories of flight, and turned those theories into the first practical powered aircraft. This invention was a game-changer that ranks in importance with the invention of the printing press, the steam engine and the automobile. It changed the world as we know it, creating three industries – the aircraft manufacturing industry, the air cargo industry, and the passenger airline industry, as well as the study of aeronautical and aerospace engineering.
Episode Transcript
Scott Luton (00:12):
Good morning, Scott Luton here with you on this edition of this week in business history. Welcome to today’s show on this program, which is part of the supply chain. Now family of programming. We take a look back at the upcoming week, and then we share some of the most relevant events and milestones from years past, of course, mostly business focused with a little dab of global supply chain. And occasionally we might just throw in a good story outside of our primary realm. So I invite you to join me on this. Look back in history to identify some of the most significant leaders, companies, innovations, and perhaps lessons learned in our collective business journey. Now let’s dive in to this week in business history.
Gary Smith (01:10):
Hello, and thanks for joining us. My name is Gary Smith and I’ll be sitting in for Scott Luton is your guest host on this edition of this week in business history. This episode, we are focused on the events that occurred during the week of December 13th through the 19th. Thanks so much for listening to the show. We’re going to discuss one of those truly seminal moments in history. It’s one of those moments that if you were alive to witness it, you would always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened. However, people today only know this particular similar moment from history books yet it was a day that truly changed the course of history. It spawned at least three industries, countless companies, and a whole new engineering field of study. You’ve heard the basic story, but I’m sure that you’ll be surprised by some of these details.
Gary Smith (02:03):
Stay tuned. And thanks for joining us here on this week in business history, powered by the team at the supply chain. Now this is the story of the Wright brothers and the Dawn of modern aviation Wilbur Wright was born in Minville Indiana on April 16th, 1867 to Milton and Susan, right? A little known fact. Milton writes mother Catherine reader was of Dutch descent and was a distant relative of new York’s famous Vanderbilt family. Wilbur’s brother Orville was born at Dayton, Ohio on August 19th, 1871. Their father was a Bishop in the church of the United brethren of Christ and traveled frequently. The family moved numerous times, but permanently settled in Dayton in 1884 on one of his business trips, their father, who was a big believer in the educational value of toys, brought them a toy that flew this toy was basically an invention by the French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse porno.
Gary Smith (03:08):
The boys played with it enthusiastically, but eventually it broke as most toys do. However, unlike other children who would simply have thrown it away, Wilburn Orville studied the construction and built their own exact replica to play with the boys would later say that this experience sparked their initial interest in flying. Although the brothers were separated in age, by over four years, there were as inseparable as twins. They ate together, played together, work together, and yes even argued together, although both attended high school and were good students, neither graduated Wilbur once said that they even quote thought together. Also, it was said that their voices were so much alike, that if you heard one of them talking, you could not tell which one it was without actually seeing them. In 1889, Orville dropped out of high school and built his own printing press together with Wilbert.
Gary Smith (04:03):
They started a weekly newspaper. The West side news Wilbur was its editor. It became a daily in 1890 and it was called the evening item. However, it lasted only four months after that. They focused on commercial printing. Another interesting fact is that one of their printing clients was a high school friend of Orville’s named Lawrence Dunbar. Dunbar would go on to become a prominent African American poet and writer in the late 1890s. The Wright brothers opened a bicycle and repair shop in 1892 called the right cycle exchange it capitalized on the bicycle craze that occurred after the invention of what was then called the quote safety bicycle. This bicycle was not dissimilar in design to the two wheelers of today, but we’ll leave that story for another time. The brothers began manufacturing their own bicycles in 1896 as the right cycle company. They used the profits from this company to fund their growing interest in flight here.
Gary Smith (05:06):
They were primarily influenced by the works of sir George Kaley, Leonardo da Vinci, Octavia Chenault, and Otto Lillian Thall through their research. The brothers became convinced that the secret to flight was in the control of the glide as opposed to using sheer power of an engine for control, thus workable and Wilbur focused on pilot control. This led to the concept of wing warping, which consisted of a system of pulleys to twist the edges of the wings in opposite directions, allowing the aircraft to bank or lean as it turned to change direction later, airplane designs would use ailerons to bank the airplane because this design proved to be much more stable. The brothers spent much of their time between 1900 and 1902 designing and testing gliders and working towards perfecting their pilot control theory of flight by 1903, they added power to their machine. The original Wright flyer was constructed of spruce with a skin of Muslim.
Gary Smith (06:14):
The propellers were also made of wood and the brothers used wind tunnel tests to determine their length and construction. They decided on using twin pusher, propellers both about eight feet long and made of laminated screws working with their in-house mechanic, Charlie Taylor, they constructed an engine in just six weeks. The engine featured a block cast of aluminum, which was rare in those days, a primitive carburetor and no fuel pump fuel was gravity fit. The original right flier had a wingspan of 40.3 feet and weighed 605 pounds. It had a 12 horsepower engine and weighed 180 pounds. The total investment in the aircraft was less than a thousand dollars. The equivalent of $28,000 today that was still quite a bargain. The brothers chose the dunes of near kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to initially test their gliders. And ultimately the Wright flyer because the dunes at kill devil Hills were large and the constant wind provided lift for their aircraft.
Gary Smith (07:19):
The original flight was scheduled for December 14th, 1903. This was to commemorate the 120 first anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight by the [inaudible] brothers in 1782, a coin toss one by Wilbert determined who would pilot the aircraft. First, the maiden flight was a failure after three seconds in the air, Wilbur stall, the aircraft and a crash causing minor damage. The second attempt occurred on December 17th. It was a chilly dry day with temperatures in the low forties and about a 20 mile an hour wind Orville took his term. This time it was successful. The first flight occurred at 10:35 AM and lasted a total of 12 seconds covering 120 feet at a blistering speed of 6.8 miles per hour. The next two flights by Wilburn Orville respectively covered 175 and 200 feet and reached an altitude of 10 feet on the fourth and final flight of the day.
Gary Smith (08:22):
Wilbur again, took the controls. Orville wrote of the final flight of that day. Quote Wilbur had started the fourth and last flight at just about 12 o’clock. The first few hundred feet were up and down as before, but by the time 300 feet had been covered. The machine was under much better control. The course of the next four or 500 feet had, but little undulations. However, when at about 800 feet, the machine began pitching again. And in one of its darts downward struck the ground. The distance over the ground was measured at 852 feet. The time of the flight was 59 seconds. The frame supporting the front rudder was badly broken, but the main part of the machine was not injured at all. We estimated that the machine could be put into condition for flight again in about a day or two after the flight, the brother sent a telegram to their father, informing them of their success and asking that he quote informed press at quote, interestingly enough, the date and journal refuse to print the story saying that the news of such a short flight was unimportant.
Gary Smith (09:31):
However, a Telegraph operator leaked the story to a paper in Virginia who ran a highly inaccurate version. The next day, this story was picked up by a number of newspapers, including the previously mentioned Dayton journal incredibly though the news of the first powered flight did not really create a lot of excitement with the general public. The Wright brothers published their story in January of 1904, but interest soon faded years later, the date newspapers actually celebrated the Wright brothers as hometown and national heroes. However, when asked why the local press first ignored the seminal moment in history, newspaper publisher in 1920 democratic presidential candidate, James B. Cox, the founder of Cox broadcasting was quoted to say, quote, frankly, none of us believed it in 1904. The Wright brothers built the right flyer to, they decided to forego the relocation to kitty Hawk and set up an airfield it account pasture in Huffman Prairie, about 13 miles from Dayton after several less than spectacular flights, press attention died down yet.
Gary Smith (10:40):
Again, this allowed the brothers to continue their experimentation and research in relative anonymity, which they preferred by 1909. The Wright brothers formed the right company to manufacture their aircraft designs with each design and each flight. They learned more and more about powered flight. They flew together once in 1910, but then promised their family that they were never fly together again in order to avoid an accident that may kill them both on another occasion, Orville took his 82 year old father of a seven minute flight. They reached an altitude of 350 feet with their father. Milton shouting higher oral higher competition finally came to airplane manufacturing. And unfortunately from 1910 to 1914, the Wright brothers were in meshed in patent lawsuits for their plane design with the Curtis company. Then in 1912 tragedy struck Wilbur Wright died suddenly of typhoid fever at the age of 45, two years later in January of 1914, the U S circuit court of appeals ruled that the Curtis company did indeed frickin infringe on the original Wright brothers patent Orville felt vindicated, but since Wilbur’s untimely death, he no longer was interested in running the company.
Gary Smith (11:58):
He sold the right company in 1915. You see, while the brothers had always taken credit for their work as a team, Wilbur was the actual driving force and form the public face of the corporation. Soon after selling his company, Orville retired from business and then served on various boards and committees in an ironic twist, the right company merged with the Curtis company in 1929 to form the Curtis Wright company, which to this day is a manufacturer of high-tech components for the aerospace industry in 1944, 40 years after the brothers first flight, a Lockheed constellation piloted by Howard Hughes and T w a president Jack Fry flew from Burbank, California to Washington DC in six hours and 57 minutes averaging 330.9 miles an hour on its return. Slight, the pair stopped in Dayton, Ohio here. They gave 73 year old Orville Wright. His last airplane ride Orville is said to a briefly taken the controls.
Gary Smith (13:03):
He later quipped that the constellations wingspan was longer than his original life Orville’s. Last major project was restoring a right flyer three, which is considered by historians to be the first practical aircraft Orville Wright died in January of 1948 of a heart attack. Like his brother. He never married, Orville, however, live to see the invention that he and his brother built transformed the world, his lifespan from the horse and buggy days to the Dawn of supersonic flight. Ironically, John T. Daniels, the photographer who took the iconic photographs of the first flight in 1903 died just one day after Oroville at the end of world war two, Orville Wright express some sadness about the death and destruction caused by the machine that he and his brother built. He’s quoted as saying, we dared to hope we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the earth, but we were wrong.
Gary Smith (14:01):
No, I don’t have any regrets about my part in the event, in the invention of the airplane, although no one could deplore more than I do the destruction that it caused. I feel about the airplane much. The same as I do in regard to fire that is I regret all the terrible damage caused by fire. But I think that it is good that for the human race, that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have learned to put fire to thousands of important uses. So that is the story of the Wright brothers and the Dawn of modern aviation to Benny the invention of the airplane ranks in importance with the invention of the printing press, the steam engine and the automobile. It changed history and it spawned at least three major industries. The manufacturing industry, the air cargo industry and the passenger airline industry.
Gary Smith (14:57):
The first air cargo flight took place on November 7th, 1910, when a package carrying 200 pounds of silk was floated from Dayton, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio for a store opening. The aircraft was a right model B on January 1st, 1914, the first regularly scheduled scheduled aircraft. Our airline passenger service began between St. Petersburg, Florida in Tampa, Florida, while the endeavor lasted only four months, it paved the way for the beginning of the passenger airline industry. What we have learned from the study of aeronautics has set the stage for the jet age supersonic flight and what would be mankind’s next great adventure going to the moon and safely returning just a scant 66 years after that first flight, a few other items of note on this week in business history for the week of December 13th, through the 19th on December 14th, 1799, George Washington, the first president of the United States died at his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia on December 16th, 1863 philosopher, George Santayana was born in Madrid, Spain as a child.
Gary Smith (16:15):
He immigrated to the United States and eventually taught at Harvard university. Santi Anna’s best known quote was quote, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This quote is one of my personal favorites, December 18th, 1916, during the world war one. The battle of ridden concluded after 10 months of fighting in which 543,000 French and 434,000 German soldiers were killed on December 19th, 1732, Benjamin Flint Franklin first published poor Richard’s Almanac containing weather predictions, humor, Proverbs epigrams, and eventually selling nearly 10,000 copies per year, also on December 19th. But in 1997, the movie Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet open, it had a budget of 200 million and grossed 28.6 million in its first weekend. It would go on to gross $2.1 billion worldwide. Well, that wraps up this edition of this week in business history. My thanks to Scott Luton for allowing me to guest host this week. I’ve considered it an honor. Thank you, Scott. Those are the stories that stood out for us, but what do you think find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram, and share your comments there. We’re here to listen. Thank you. And goodbye.
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Featured Guests
Gary Smith is a “second generation” supply chain professional with over 40 years’ experience and has worked as both a practitioner and a consultant. He has also worked in both private and public sectors. Gary is currently Chief, Enterprise Asset Management / Supply Chain Management for New York City Transit, part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In this capacity he is responsible for identifying and implementing the most appropriate supply chain concepts, tools, equipment, systems, and best practices, implementing them to reduce cost, reduce cycle time, and improve system accuracy to narrow the gap between effort and accomplishment.
Gary has Fellow level APICS certifications in CPIM, CSCP and CLTD. He is a frequent presenter at ASCM Conferences and has authored numerous supply chain articles. His most recent article, “After the Dust Settles – Fundamental changes for the supply chain in a post-Covid World” was just published in the November 2020 issue of Supply Chain Management Review.
Gary has a BS in Industrial Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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