Hello. Were going to go through a tour of some artifacts that really stand out in terms of the story of higher, faster, and farther. First, i would to talk about the museum overall. It has over 8 million visitors a year. Looking at the story of flight in the atmosphere, where i work in, we are looking at 500 aircraft and helicopters. About 67 are on display in the National Mall building. What supports these artifacts are up to 60,000 small and medium artifacts. Were going to talk about the story of higher, faster, farther. A bit of a cliche in the history of aviation but has a real meaning. We look at the people who made this quest of flying in the third dimension a reality. The idea of flying to the highest altitudes, faster speed, longest distances tells us a lot about the Technical Development of the airplane and the reinvention of what the Wright Brothers did. Only the smithsonian can tell the story. Behind me, you see the wright flyer. Oracle right, at the controls takes flight Orville Wright takes flight. The first time. At the end of the day, after four flights, oracle orville and wilbur alternate. 30 Miles Per Hour. They usher in the aerial age. How they came to create that moment is very important. Not only did they invent the airplane, they invent aeronautical engineering in the process needed to create actual flying machines. In 1899, the brothers, they are unmarried and owned a bicycle shop. They are yankee mechanics. They know tools and take interest in apply to pretty presses, bicycles, and building a flying machine. In 1899, they were at the Smithsonian Institution and ask for all the literature on point. Ask for all the literature on flight. They learn about the secretary of smithsonian and the competitor. They learn about the conduit of knowledge between aeronautical exterminators in europe and United States. What sets them apart is they break the problem down. They look at an airplane as a system of systems. Structures, controls, aerodynamics. Between 1899 and 1902, they start flying gliders. They had the gliders and in 1902, they have a controllable glider. They made wing warping. Rather than using weight, to have a mechanical system where they can twist the wings. The brothers always compliment to each other as intellectuals and so they argued how they would control the airplane. One day in the bicycle shop, wilbur is talking to a customer and has an inner tube box for a bicycle tire and is twisting it as he is talking to the individual and he sees in his minds eye, envisioning the threedimensional technology and says if we start twisting the wings of the glider, he can control it and it will turn. You can control it and it will turn. They create the worlds first wind Tunnel Networks to do the math first working wind tunnel to do the math. They recalculated and designed wings table of capable of creating lift. By 1902, they are flying from to 30 seconds from the dunes of kitty hawk. They traveled there because it is one of the one spots that has consistent winds as isolation so they can work in peace. In 190203, they add the last big part of the airplane. They then add the structure. You look at the control system, the wing warping. The last ingredient is the propulsion. They knowledge a reciprocating system. They create a horizontal force. They know they need that much power to generate the thrust of the propeller and if another they will have propellers on their machine. How do they work . They go to existing data and that is not give them any answers. The same sort of intellectual give and take, the brothers are mash ing at each other and they realize it propeller is a rotating wing. They take their wind tunnel data, adapted to the designs of a propeller and designed two propellers capable of producing up to 6070 thrust. You see the propellers on the back of the wings. Pusher impellers. Propellers. They wanted them to turn in opposite directions. Taking their knowledge, you twist the belt of the power system. You can see one of the chains twisted on the drive system. The propulsion system enables the brothers to go to kitty hawk in the late fall early winter in 1903 where they start their online program. They have a crash and on december 17, 1903, they fly this airplane behind me. That moment of getting behind into the air and looking at all the technology in terms of aluminum engine, spruce propellers, spruce structural members, metal fitting. That all comes together in the system of the airplane. After those four flights, a big wind comes up and tumbles and is demolished. They claim success, go back to dayton and send a telegram to their father saying success. They send a telegram to the father saying success. By 1905, they are flying up to half an hour for Long Distances over huston prairie. The 03 flyer is forgotten. It goes through a flood. Then, in 1926, a goes to england. During world war ii, it is stored west of london durintg the blitz. It comes to 1948 when orville donates the wright flyer to the Smithsonian Institution and has been on display. 2003, the centennial of their first flight, this gallery is open to tell the story of making the first airplane and with it aeronautical engineering. What you see here is the original airplane. It has been restored and changed over the years. The fabric that you see here is not the original fabric from 1903. It has been applied in the same sewing methods and construction of the 1903 sewing methods and construction of the 1903 plane. 1980s, this airplane underwent a restoration. The structural members, the engine, one of the propellers, all original. The corner of the gallery, one of the original propellers. When it took its tumble, a crack and split that propeller it cracked and flipped that propeller. The world war i gallery now. The airplane behind me is a spaz 13. This takes what the Wright Brothers created in 1903 and make it their own. This is a 1917 design and it is the highest performance french fighter of world war i. What that means is they can go 130 Miles Per Hour. It is also just a large strut and wire braced airplane. The tractor configuration with the engine propeller in the front, central fuselage, a french word, bilane wings. More french influence. After the creation of the airplane, the Wright Brothers bring into the world. The french run with it and take the lead as well as other nations. Looking at this airplane, it is the epiphany of the strut and wire configuration. It has been improved and enhanced. The spaz 13 is a product of a french designer. He designed air racers. It is important in terms of air combat over france over the western front during world war i. It is the spaz 13 that Enter Service in may, 1917 that reflects the epiphany of french highperformance fighter design. It has a fast design. The fabric is covered. It is the engine, 220 horsepower v8 engine at the core. You see the radiator shutters. There is a be a engine underneath. V8 engine v8 engine. It allows the air to flow over more efficiently. Mark birkigt, he adapts this by taking two of his engines and makes it into a v8 and instead of having separate pillingers and has cooling passages that allow improved cooling and more power. Instead of a rotary engine doing 120 horsepower, youre looking at 220 horsepower. There is always a technological push and pull over the western front over world war i with what the germans have an advantage. The spad 13 is the french answer. It is not as maneuverable. It has speed and can dive away so they are going to take this airplane and develop new Group Fighter tactics in response to german fighter tactics. This first generation of significant airplanes and french squadrons. This becomes the highest performance airplane that has two 30 caliber machines guns. Dive, fly away, come back in the past that gives the french Fighter Squadron an advantage. One of the major Technological Innovations in world war i for Fighter Aircraft is the creation of a gun system. You can mount a machine gun in front of a pilot with a site and as you point the airplane, you can point the machine guns and hit your target. The problem is that you have a spinning propeller in the way. The creation of a mechanical linkage set up to a camera on the propeller shaft as the propeller blade crosses in front, it turns off the machine gun and that the propeller blade is passed, it turns back on. As i see something goes into 1918, the entry of the United States into the war, you have American Air Service pilots coming to the western front being equipped with french aircraft. There is not a frontline ready american fighter for the conflict. It is built by one of the manufacturers contracted. The 22nd aero squadron was assigned this airplane. A young pilot named ray brooks painted the name of his fiancee. Smith. He goes into combat and scores one aerial kill. Some of the pilots should down at least five more so this is it flew with the first generation of american combat pilots. Ray brooks names his airplane after his the on state school fiancees school. He did not want to have this airplane damaged and have a mechanic say we need to fix her. So he named her after a college. Smith the fourth is in the 1918 camouflage. You also see small black squares with german crosses. Does represent bullet holes shot through the fabric and combat in combat. The squares would have been applied by ground mechanics in the field. One of the interesting advantages of a strut and wire breaks that if it will goes to the fabric, it passes through the other side. The job of the mechanic is to patch that and restore the integrity and keep fighting. At the end of war one, in november, this airplane is set aside by the Army Air Service and brought back to the United States. To display what type of aircraft americans flew, High Performance french fighter, it is given to the smithsonian. It is not until the 1980s that the airplane is fully restored. Input on display in the world war i gallery. If you look at this panel, you can see fabric from the original airplane on display. The fabric you see here is not original. Nonetheless, this is one of four remaining in the world. It tells the story of how the Wright Brothers original airplane was maximized and changed but was still essentially the same in terms of material and propulsion system. It is a formidable combat fighter of world war i. From the spad 13, we when i look at the air racer of the 1920s. Behind me now is the curtis racer. This is an air racer. What is unique about it is that it is built by a national government, the United States that can compete in International Air racing against the air forces of other countries to win a prize. The schnider cup. This technology is built in the name of performance making pursuit and Fighter Airplanes better. What resulted this grand spectacle of aviation. A military spec will spectacle. Take notice that the u. S. Army is on the tail of the air racer and you will see they are in bloodless campaigns against each other. They are promoting their own branch of service. Seeing if they can push the technology. It is a two for Public Relations and Technical Campaign they are waging. What results is an improvement of the airplane in terms of its highspeed technology. United states get and into air racing in 1922 when they show up at the schnider trophy competition. This was an International Event created by a french aviation industrialist who is employed and influent and developed speed plane technology. There was the competition, even as early as the preworld war i, this becomes a highstakes, highspeed competition between International Aviation clubs of each country and then the military governments take over in the early 1920s. The curtis r3d2 is the worlds fastest airplane in the fall of 1925. This racer, with a run air Service Young air service pilot, wins the competition northeast of baltimore maryland. At an average of 230 Miles Per Hour. Next day, he breaks a world speed plane record of 240 Miles Per Hour. This gets into the public eye. It shows the importance of the military and military aviation overall. Just two weeks before, the same airplane, with wheels and tail skins installed, wins the pulitzer trophy race. It is a National Race pitting the army and navy and marine pilots against each other. An aerial armynavy football game. He flies the same airplane with a wheel installed to win the race at 248 Miles Per Hour. Jimmy doolittle are the worlds fastest men. He was faster than any wind in history. This belief in speed and the pushing of technology and justification of natural governments to encourage this development resulted in what we see here, the curtis rc3. Look at the gold wings. You see the lines running inbetween the fuselage, but as a brass radiator that is a brass radiator. You have the air traveling over the profile of the wing. It is cooling the engine through the radiators. You see minimal struts and wires on the construction of it. It tightly fitting engine. You see a metal propeller. Is a true innovation in terms of transitioning from wood to metal. Most important, it is a plywood fuselage built like a wooden boat and built with spruce. No longer in a struts and wires braces. It is a hollow shell. That corporate a streamlined shape incorporates a streamlined shape. Lets drag along the surface of the fuselage. Lets drag eless drag along the surface of the fuselage. It is built for a highspeed environment. A virtual racetrack in the sky. It allows it to make a tight turn along the pylon. Jimmy doolittle had a technique where he would start at one pylon and pull up and turn around another pylon to get speed. The short wingspan facilitated that. If you are a spectator watching the legs of this race, you would see doolittle climbing, turning, and diving toward the pylons. You also hear the airplane and so this engine, the short stacks are barking and making popping noises. The propeller is going supersonic at its tips. Propellers of the first are not a cold devices that go supersonic. Aeronautical devices that go supersonic. This airplane to me by at my level is an amazing thing to see. Zooming by at eye level is an amazing thing to see. The next year at the schnider trophy race in virginia, a marine pilote comes in second. It is restored by personnel there and returns the installation in the pioneers flight ellery received today. Gallery where it is here today. Jimmy doolittle becomes a famous test pilot, a certified aeronautical engineer. He races across the states. At the opening of world war ii for the United States when Jim Doolittle becomes a National Hero as he leads the famous raid named after him against japan in april 1942. He wins the medal of honor and goes on to become one of the leading bomber generals of world war ii. The curtis racer is a fast airplane and it boosted the career of a pilot we are all going to know, jimmy doolittle. Now we will look at Charles Lindbergh. This airplane in may, 1927 flew 3600 miles from new york to paris. Flown by Charles Lindbergh and unknown male pilot. His goal was to win for the first nonstop flight from new york to paris. He wanted to join the former country of france with United States. That was the dentist for the flight. What it represents in the history of aviation is part of the telling of the airplane and the transformation of the airplane from what the Wright Brothers created and how transitioned over time. He was an unknown pilot it was blind from st. Louis to chicago. Was thinking about if it was possible. Building upon that idea, he he gets he trained people to fly it interacted with people in the aviation circle. He gets the backing to either purchase a longdistance airplane or to build one. What happens, he ends up in san diego and meets the chief engineer and design a purpose built transatlantic airplane from new york to paris. He calls it the spirit of st. Louis in honor of his backers in saint louis. This is a product of his vision of what a Long Distance airplane would be. It is not necessarily the most advanced airplane. It represents many of the known ideas of technology with some gambles. Working with don hall through the spring of 1927, he creates this airplane. It is a wood wing, tubular steel frame work and innovation that emerged in world war i. A diversion from the wood bracing that we saw since the Wright Brothers. It still uses wires and framework like you would see with the strut and wire braced. They know it works. It is also the basic design of the n2. This aircraft designed for one thing play across the ocean with one pilot. Flying across the ocean with one pilot. He makes the gamble, the lighter the airplane, more simpler i can control it. This is an airplane built for endurance. 450 gallons of gasoline which doubles the weight. 40005000 pounds. He learned how to handle the airplane. When it is finished in april 1927, the first thing he does is breaks the san diego to st. Louis record. And he goes to new york which is the jumping off point to paris. This is where his choices go into play. You dont see a canopy on the airplane. You see a door on the side. He used a periscope that he would deploy to see forward or would swivel the tail to look out the side. What is in front of him are the oil and main deal tanks in the engine. Fuel tanks in the engine