| Title | : | The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0609810324 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780609810323 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2003 |
So begins Noah Adams’s adventure in search of Wilbur and Orville Wright, a journey that takes him across the country as he follows in the footsteps of the famous brothers in an attempt to know them more deeply, not just as inventors and pilots but as individuals as well.
Adams, one of our most distinctive and talented storytellers, traveled thousands of miles and interviewed scores of experts and individuals to piece together his story. He finds a local boat captain to ferry him to Kitty Hawk, along the same route that Wilbur took in 1900, and spends several days talking with descendants of the families who first welcomed the Wright brothers a century ago and helped them conduct their gliding experiments. To experience first-hand the thrill of being in the air, Adams himself goes hang-gliding in the Outer Banks.
To understand the aerodynamics of lift and drag and how the famous 1903 plane was constructed, he visits Ken Hyde, a Virginia pilot and vintage aircraft builder who is creating the world’s most accurate reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer. Adams goes to the prop shop and handles the tools and materials that the Wrights used to build their gliders and planes, and later he visits the wind tunnel at Langley Air Force Base where Hyde’s reproduction was tested for the first time.
He also travels to France to visit the old racetrack at Le Mans where Wilbur startled the European aviation community with his demonstration flights in 1908, and he spends a few days at Wisconsin’s Oshkosh Fly-in, where builders of experimental aircraft and owners of vintage planes gather every year to dazzle the crowds. Adams himself takes to the air in a restored Ford Tri-Motor, America’s first airliner, which took its maiden flight seventy years ago.
In Adams’s book we encounter the Wright brothers in a way that no writer has introduced them before. Through the lens of his own experiences as well as original reporting, letters, diaries, and other primary source material, he helps us understand the talent and intensity of the brothers and their family, including the fascinating, deeply complex, and at times tragic bond between Orville and Katharine, his younger sister.
The Flyers is a wonderfully rich narrative that brings an unprecedented spirit of immediacy to one of history’s most dramatic stories.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright Reviews
-
How could I not give
The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur & Orville Wright 5 Stars? I've been flying my whole life and yet only really knew the Wright Brothers of Dec 17th, 1903. This small, friendly, unassuming book has remedied my lack of knowledge. This is a story of Wilbur, Orville and Katharine Wright, along with others of the Wright family. We get an understanding of the lead up to that first flight and how remote Kitty Hawk was. We also get a great discussion of what happened afterwards. The trips to Europe to demonstrate and sell airplanes, the demonstration flights for the US Army and the business of flying. The story of Katharine is especially poignant. The Wrights were unique and the stories are both wondrous and tragic. They were "rock stars" of the European circuit in the early days of flying. Throughout the book, you constantly wonder what it must have been like to first hear an airplane, something common and unremarkable to us now. Adams visits all the key locations while telling the story and has a good eye for comparing old photos to the current picture. Highly recommended. -
Well, that took an embarrassingly long time. Review soon to come.
-
This book is exactly what the subtle suggests. Adams goes to where the wright brothers (and sister) went. He describes the scene and the terrain then and now. He only lightly mentions the politics and court battles but now when I read about those, I will be able to place them in a physical context.
-
While the Wright Brothers success in building a flying machine is a historical event of the largest magnitude, this book seemed a bit dry to me. I do want to read another book on the subject since air travel has changed the world.
-
Very enjoyable and thought provoking book. I had read his previous book, Far Appalachia, which I also enjoyed.
He goes great detail about some of the pictures. And I suppose he is right to. In the picture taken of the first flight he tells us about the footprints in the sand at Kill Devil Hills going up to the plane and we see the plane in the air. That was a world changing instant. I can’t really see the footprints in the copy of the photo in the book. But I want to believe that they are there. -
Noah Adams is a master at taking small details and bringing them to life. This book is not precisely a history of flight or a biography of the Wright brothers, although that is a part of it. Instead, he describes travels to major scenes in their life -- Dayton, Kitty Hawk, Washington, France -- and puts the history into the current reality. He is not so much reporting facts as facts tinged with impressions.
As a consequence the historical figures, especially Katherine Wright Haskell, truly are rounded out. The requent quoting from primary sources adds validity to his narrative. -
NPR's Noah Adams was both author and reader of the audiobook version of this book. Adams has such an amazing radio voice that I'd be willing to listen to him randomly read through names in the phone book. Unfortunately, that's what it felt like I was doing much of the time. This is the most oddly organized book. It's as if he transcribed his notes as is, mixing in Wright Bros. history, encounters with eccentric people, details of his research trips, and whatever archival details struck him as interesting. Where was the editor?
-
Noah Adams does a wonderful job of taking the reader on both the physical and historical journey, and if you have been able to visit any of these sites on your own, the wind and the sand painted in mind's eye by his prose are all the more tangible. This is an excellent story of the men and the moment, set in the larger context of their family, their work, and their post-flight lives.
-
Not an in-depth biography of the Wright Brothers, but still much is revealed about their work, personalities, travels and family relationships. The author visits places where the Wrights flew (much about Dayton, which I appreciated as a native Daytonian), Kitty Hawk, Paris, Ft. Mead -- reports what they did there and interviews locals.
-
Learned of many things I never knew regarding the Wright family and journey. Fascinating! Recommend to anyone truly interested in the personalities of Orville and Wilbur as well as the challenges they underwent to achieve their goal.
-
A wonderful look at what it took to create an airplane. Covers interesting relationships as well as how to conduct archival research.
-
Get it on CD if you can-Noah Adams' reading is superb.
-
Good account of the Wright Brothers.
-
Noah Adams wanted to follow the route and thoughts of the Wright brothers.
There is too much Noah and too little Wright brothers. -
An easy read with a broad overview of the Wright brothers history altering contribution to mankind.
-
It's an OK book but shouldn't be read immediately after reading "The Bishop's Boys".
-
The subject matter was interesting, but the book was disjointed and boring.
-
This is a book written by Noah Adams, the National Public Radio personality. Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that his reporting and books are more about his view of the world.
-
For the most part, even though I recently read a book on the Wright brothers, the author told the story well and kept my interest.
-
my copy 220 pages hardback 2003 Crown Library edition.
-
Pretty in-depth journey through the history of the Wright brothers and their pioneering flight.
-
Quite a good little book about the Wright brothers, their quest, their sister, North Carolina, Ohio, and life in the early part of the 20th century.
