america's and the world's flight? >> he is a fine writer. maybe the most important part of that is his books are widely sold and read. and so the word gets out to the public through that. it means he did a lot of research with dr. couch and dr. jacob and actually references them freely in his book. so, yes, you know, that's one of the thing about this whole place is getting the information to people, to spark that interest, where they want to know more. so this question is one we welcome. because if we can get, okay, let's try to figure this out. let somebody try to come and try to prove something different. we're anxious to hear from folks. >> it's clear this still excites you after all these years. >> it really does. yes. >> let's hear from wayne who is calling from massachusetts with general jack daley. >> caller: geechb, general, and semmer phi.

>> hoorah! >> caller: i have a question. last year, the movie about gary powers being shot down in his u 2 spy plane was a big hit with tom hanks. i understand the remains of that spy plane are still in the soviet -- the former soviet union. what are the possibilities of getting that from the russians so that it can be -- it can be implemented into the program there at the museum? >> wayne, thank you. >> yeah, we -- of course we have a u 2 on display here in this building. but i'm not familiar with any efforts to recover the wreckage. but that would have been part of a state department negotiation afterwards. and of course it was an embarrassment to the country because we had denied that we were overflying russia at that

time. so as i say, i know of no plans. and i'm not sure that -- by the way, we couldn't take it if we got it because we don't have room for us. >> let's go to bill, our last call, from new york. go ahead, bill. >> caller: hello general dailey, thank you for taking my call. my dad used to work for gummans in the '60s. he was an engineer on the lem. do you have artifacts from the lem and moon shots there, and also semper general dailey. >> it's great to have all the marines on the line tonight. i'm not sure i understand, do we have additional artifacts from the lem? that's the question? >> exactly. >> of course the ones that went to the moon are still there. this was -- because the program was cut short, that was the reason why we have this equipment available to us. but this one we have on display is configured identically to the

one that went with the apollo 11. we have other artifacts associated with lems but everything we have on this is installed -- in fact, this is the most complete display that we've ever had on this particular artifact of it's been on display here for 40 years. but now an individual who was actually involved with the original configuration of the lem for apollo 1 is came in and did the work on this. so we are very pleased with the exhibit and it is authenticity. >> can you can look ahead 40 years from tonight, what will this facility look like? >> it will look better than it does today because it will have all new stone and new sibts. they would be starting to get long in the tooth and we would be looking for more money to redo the whole place. >> general, thank you for being us us. you have a busy night, we appreciate your time with us. the director of the museum, the most popular person at the

museum. >> at 8:30 eastern we are going to have an opening ceremony for a new exhibit is boeing spibts in flight hall. it is a right next door to where we are now. and it is a open to the public. we are going to stay open all night. if haven't got anything else to do, even if you do, come down, the weather is clearing here. >> i'll put in a plug for cspan 3 american history tv because we are carrying that live. thank you for being with us. we're going to show you around this terrific facility, this museum and some of the artifacts, the one of a kind items only here at the national air and space museum. behind me you see the wright flyer, the world's first airplane. on the morning of december 17th, 1903 at 10:35 a.m., orville wright at the controls takes flight for 120 feet. that is the first time a man entered into the air in a powered flying machine. at the end of the day, after

four flights where orville and wilbur alternate, the fourth flight with wilbur at the controls, 852 feet. 30 miles per hour, at an altitude of 30 feet. and they usher in this aerial age. the age of aviation. and how they came to create that moment is very important because not only do the wright brothers invent the airplane, but they invent aeronautical engineering, the processes that are needed to create actual flying machines. so beginning in 1899, wilbur and orville write, wilbur is the older, orville is the younger. they are unmarried. they own a bicycle shop, they are yankee mechanics. they know tools and mechanical devices and they take that interest and apply it to int printing presses and bicycles and they apply it to the problem of creating a flying machine. in 1899 they write the smithsonian institution and ask for all the literature on

flight. they learn about the predecessors, george daily, samuel langley, who is going to be the care out aor of the smithsonian and a competitor. they learn about all the aeronautical engineers. what sets the wright brothers apart is they break the problem down. they have to look at the airplane as a system of systems. looking at propulsion, structures, control, and arrow dynamics, the science of flight. and so between 1899 and 1902, they start flying gliders. they have -- start with kites. they have their gliders. by 1902 they have a controllable glider in which we've made this new fundamental contribution called wing warping. rather than usingor weight to shift the balance of the glider they have a mechanical system where they can twist the wings.

how they come to that conclusion is that the brothers always implemented each other as intellectuals. so they argued how are we going to control this airplane, how are we going to make it move in the air? how can we keep it from flying in a straight lichblt it's one day in the bicycle shop where wilbur is talking to a measure is and he has a inner tube box for a bicycle tire and he is twisting it as he talks to this individual. and he sees in his mind's eye, non-verbal thinking, the mine's eye, 3d technology and he says if the we twist the wings of our glider you can control it. one goes down, and the other comes down and you can turn. that's how had he come up with the new ideas of how the airplane works. they create the world's first wind tunnel to do the math of previous experimenters like john smeeten and they find out he is wrong on the coefficient of lift on the wings and they

recalculate it and apply it to their work so they design wing that are capable of creating lift. by 1902 they have a working glider where they are flying for up to almost 30 seconds from the dunes of kiddy hawk, north carolina, the kill devil hills, in which they have traveled there because it's the one spot in america that has consistent winds as well as isolation so they can work in peace without distraction. so through 1902 and 1903, they add the last big part of their airplane. so they have done the wings. the arrow dynamics. they have done the structure which was influenced by octave and the pratt trust which you have seen on the railroads in the 19th century. then you look at the control system, the wing warping. the last ingredient is the propulsion system. they acknowledge it's going to be a recipro kating engine. they create a horizontal force on their 12 horse power engine.

they know they need that much power to generate the thrust of the propellors. that's a specific choice the wright brothers make, it's going too much propellers on their flying machine. how do propellers work? they anything your they can go to existing data on ship propellers and that doesn't give them any answers. so the same sort of intellectual give andic at that. the brothers are gnashing at each other. they are going at it. and they realize that a propeller is a rotating wing in a helical path. this he take their wind tunnel data, adapt to design a propeller. and they design pro propellers capable of producing 67 to 70% thrust over that 12 horse power engine. you see the two propellers on the, about of the wing. they are called pusher configurations is what it's called. they want the propellers to turn in opposite directions, counter-rotating. taking their knowledge of working in workshop in which you

want to change the direction of the machine you twist the belt of the power system from the roof you can see the chain system is twisted. that last ingredient, the propulsion system enables the brothers to go to kitty hawk in the late fall, early winter of 1903 where they start readying their flying program. they have a crash. they are down for a couple of days. but it's december 17th, 1903 that they actually fly this airplane that you see behind me. it's that moment, that reaching of that actual -- getting into the air under the power and looking at all the technology here in terms of you have your aluminum engine, you have spruce propellers and spruce structural members. you have metal fittings and you have must listen fabric, pride of the west, horn of the brand. that all comes together in this system of the airplane that they create. after those four flights a big

wind comes up at kitty hawk and the flyer tumbles and it's demolished. but they claim success, they pack it up and go back to dayton, where they are from, and they send a telegram to their father, success, four flights. and they make the announcement. this is really -- that's the very quiet way of saying that the aerial age has emerged. by 1905, in an improved flyer, wilbur and orville are flying up to half an hour for long distances and figure eights over huffman prairie just outside of dayton, ohio. so the '03 flyer as it's going to be called is for gotten. it sits in crates. it goes through a flood. and where all the crates have been soaked with water and mud. and then orville is starting to reassemble the airplane and put it on different displays through the 1920s. in 1926 it goes to england where it's at the science museum.

during world war ii it's actually stored west of london during the blitz, during attacks on england. but it comes to 1948, when orville, with great fanfare donates the wright flyer to the smithsonian institution. and it's been on public display, whether at the old arts and industries building in the classic continue shed which existed for many years and the opening of the national air and space museum in 1976, the wright flyer went on display. and in 2003 in the centennial of the wright brothers' first flight this gallery was opened to tell that story of the making of the first airplane. and with it, arrow naughtical engineering. what you see here is the original airplane, the wright flyer. but it has been restored and things have been changed over the years. so the fabric that you see there is not the original fabric from 1903. but it's actually been applied in the same sewing methods and construction as the 1903

airplane. so orville removed the fabric and they made the airplane look better for when it went to england. but in the 1980s, this airplane underwent a restoration. see the spruce structural members, the engine, one of the propellers, that's all original. over in the corner of the gallery is one of the original propellers you will see. because when the airplane took its tumble it cracked and split that and broke that propeller. we've just left the wright brothers, and the invention of the arrow age gallery. now we are in legend memory and great war in the air. the world war i gallery. the airplane behind me is a spad 13. in many ways this is the configuration of the french and the rest of the arrow nautical community take what the wright brothers create in 1903 and any make it their own. this is a 1917 design.

it's the highest performance french fighter of world war i. what that means is that it can go 130 miles per hour. so 100 miles an hour faster than a wright flyer. but it's also just a large strut and wire braced airplane just like the wright flyer. but it's in the tractor configuration with the engine and the propeller are in the front. and there is a central fuselage, note that french word, fuselage with two by plane wings. and ale rons for control at the tops of each of the wings. more french influence. after the creation of the airplane, the wright brothers bring it to the world. there is some french and other european experimenters flying airplanes but the french really run with it. and they take a lead, as well as other nations. but in looking at this airplane, it is the epitome of that strut and wire and brace configuration

of the brooit brothers, but improved and enhanced. spad 13 is the product of a designer named louie bashero. he designed a number of series of spad series. the 7 was used in world war i. and the spad 13 reflects the epitome of french high performance design. it has air foils like the wright flyer and that allows it to go very fast. and it's fabric covered. it's the engine, the his pano swissa v 8 engine that's the core of it. you see the radiator shutters, so it looks round but there is actually a v 8 engine underneath that kouling. what i mean is there is a tight fitting metal covering over the engine. it makes it streamlined and

allows the air to flow over it more efficiently. so mark burkett of the spano swissa company, translation, spanish swiss, has designed a seriousr series of automobile engines in the prewar era. he adapts those by taking two of his in line four cylinder nmgs and makes them into a v 8. what makes it different, he cast a row of cylinders out of the solid piece of aluminum and he has cooling passages in the aluminum blocks that allows improved cooling and more power. instead of a rotary engine dog 110, 120 horse power you are looking at 200, 220 horse power with these engines by the time they are introduced in the spad 13. there is a push pull over the western front in world war i in custom the germans have an

advantage with their aircraft like the folker d 7 that you can see in this gallery. but the spad 13 is the french answer to that airplane. and it's not maneuverable but it has the speed. it can dive you a way. so they are going to take this airplane and develop new group fighter tactics in response. the german group fighter tactics. so this first generation of significant high-scoring french aces fly these airplanes in the french squadron. so this becomes -- as the highest performance airplane, it has two .30 caliber machine guns shooting through the propeller and because the airplane is fast and can dive and fly away and come back and attack that gives the french fighter squadron the advantage. the creation of a gun sin conieser system means you can mount a machine gun right in front of the pilot with sight and as you point the airplane

you can point the machine guns and hit your target. the problem is you have a spinning wood propeller in the way. the creation of a mechanical linkanage set up with a propell shaft as the blade crosses in front of the machine gun, it turns off the machine gun. as the propeller passes, the machine gun turns back on. you have american air service coming into the western front and they're equipped of french aircraft. this of what you see here is an american air service marketing. it was built from one o f the manufactures of 8400 spads total and a 20 air quadron.

he had three previous airplanes so it is smith the 4th. he goes into combat with his airplane. some other pilots in the quad has five more. this is the first generation of american combat pilots. now, ray bush named this airplane after his fiance. he didn't want to have this airplane damaged to have a mechanic saying well, ruthie is damaged and we want to fix her. so he names it after a college. >> this is a 1918 camouflage that you see.

it is a small black square that has german crosses on them. those represents bullet holes shot through the fabric. there is a small indication of this being a combat airplane and surviving. the squares would have been applied for ground mechanics in the field because it does not need to recover the airplane. one of the interesting advantage of the fabric covered airplane is the bullets go through the fabric and passes through the other side. so it will have to be patched. that's the job of the mechanics to do. after display of what type of aircraft, it is also given to the institution which saved in the collection for decades.

it is not until the 1980s that the airplane was fully restored and put in display of the world war i gallery. if you look at the panel here, you can see fabric is on display. the fabric you see here is not original. it is restored fabric. this is one of many in the world and it tells the story of how the airplane maximized and changed but still essentially the same in terms of the materials. the systems that make it up, combat fighter of world war 1. now, we'll look at an area of defining. this airplane is made in 1927

flew 3600 miles. >> his goal was to win a prize of $25,000 for the first non-stop flight from new york to paris. he was a hotel entrepreneur, he wanted to join his former country france with the united states. what it represents in the history of aviation is of this transformation of the airplane of what the white brothers created and how it transitioned in the 20s and 30s of what we call a modern airplane. glenn berg flying from st. louis and chicago air root but thinking about is this possible. and, building upon that idea, he gets from st. louis, he train' n

trained. what happened is he ends up in san diego and he meets the chief engineer, and they designed a purpose built trans atlanta airplane from new york to paris >> lynnburg calls it st. louis. this is a product of his vision of what a long distance airplane would be. so it is not necessarily that most advance airplanes represent many of the known ideas about technology that are reliable or durable with some gambles that he includes in the airplane as well. working with don hall in the spring of 1927, lindbergh creates this airplane, we see it as a highly modified plane. it is a wood wing and sterling brace and has underneath of the fabric and two steel framework. that's an innovation that emerges in world war i.

that's a diversion since we have seen with the white brothers. it still uses wires and it is still a framework. they know it works. so, the basic design of this ryan airplane that they base the airplane on. this aircraft is designed for one thing. flying across the atlantic ocean with one pilot chwhich is a gamble. lindbergh makes that gamble well, the lighter the airplane, the simpler that i can control it. >> this is an airplane that's built on endurance. it doubles the weight of 4,000 or 5,000 pounds. he has to learn how to handle his airplane. once it is finished in april 1927, the first thing he does is he breaks a san diego to st.

louis trans continental speed record. he flies on new york which is a jumping off point for the flight to paris. and so this is where lindbergh's choice really comes into play in which you don't see a canopy on this airplane. he used a parascope so you can see forward so you can look out the window on the side. what's in front of him are the oil and main fuel tank and then the engine. so that's to get all that in front of him just in case he crashes. and so he's making his choices. looking forward of the fuel tank area where it says, you see the radio engine which is a corner stone technology of the

revolution and the modern airplane, it is a radio engine and it is cooled by the air traveling over the cylinders. you see it sticking out there. it says that it could be be cool. it is a reliable engine and it stays running for 33 hours. he knows that. >> he made a conscious choice. that's advance technology and embracing. the state of the art is the engine is the aluminum alloy propeller. it has a little innovation included of the standard still propeller company innovates ready by the time lindbergh in