Super B Science Kosy Style: Two Days Two Museums

Model of First Kitty Hawk Flier - Wright Brothers Museum

The Air Force Museum was first and I was struck with how quickly we moved from the first Wright Flier 1903 to the first guided missile 1914.

And the first fighter plane - 1914 also.

And I was greatly awed by all the quick and stunning advances in aviation. The B-2 probably took my breath away the most with its 181 foot wingspan.

Then I encountered Bock's Car, the plane that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 and killed almost 80,000 people and forced Japan to surrender.


Two Fat Men

A little levity for a somber time in our history. It is ironical that a lady from Japan took the picture; she was a parent of one of the JSHS participants. I also recalled seeing Enola Gay about 20 years ago at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The next day brought much less heaviness and great inspiration. We walked through the artifacts and accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

They were great business men and innovators with handmade bikes and, of course, the Kitty Hawk flier. They had a grocery store and printing press before they opened their bike shop.

I loved the tools.

As with many other inventors they stood on the shoulders of others to advance flight. After Otto Lienthal died in a crash after years of gliding, the Wright Brothers took up the mantle.

It was the biggest challenge of their flight and after their early failure they coined the quote that led in this blog post - no one will fly in a thousand years. But they persevered.

We got to give flying the Kitty Hawk flier a try in the simulator - everyone crashed except Douglas who tried about ten times before he landed safely.