13A – Reading Reflection No. 1
For this assignment I read The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough.
1 What surprised me the most is it took them ten years to develop the airplane. It is amazing that they were able to stick with it and pursue their dream of building one for that long without completely giving up.
I admired that they were able to build the airplane using knowledge they learned themselves instead of from going to college. This was seen when Wilbur observed birds flying for hours at a time, and used the knowledge he gained from that to create the wing design. He also used the mechanics he learned from operating a bike shop in the mechanics of the glider.
One thing I least admire about the Wright Brothers is their legal battles with other early aviators. The Wright brothers believed they owned the right to many of the aeronautical principles that they discovered and charged competitors with intellectual property theft. They were mostly unsuccessful in this due to the patents only relating to mechanics of the airplane not the theories behind them. Doing this the Wright brothers hurt the development of flight.
The Wright Brothers experienced many failures throughout the creation of their flyer. They made four flights on the Wright Flyer and when discussing the final flight, a strong wind flipped it, damaging it beyond repair. Despite many setbacks like this with the flyer getting damaged or destroyed, the Wright brothers continued to build flyers, making improvements every time, and kept pursuing their dream.
2. The Wright brothers seemed to keep going no matter what the set back was. Even when they couldn’t gain support from their fellow Americans, when the government was not interested, and the public believed that man was not meant to fly. They pushed through this and went to France where they gained the support they needed to finish designing and creating their flyer, and then brought it back to America.
3. One thing I found confusing is that they couldn’t find support in America for their flyer when they were creating it so they had to go to France. They contacted the U.S. War Department and they didn’t respond. The public and media didn’t offer much support due to their beliefs of man not supposed to be flying. When they went to France however, they were treated like heroes. I just find it confusing how Americans didn’t give them that treatment.
4. The first question I would ask them would be how they were able to keep pursuing their dream for so long. I just find it amazing that they were able to pursue flight for so long despite countless setbacks, and want to know where they found that kind of motivation. The second question I would ask is if after they created the flyer, if they could go back in time and tell themselves one piece of advice, what would it be? I think it would be interesting to hear what lesson they learned the most during this process that they would choose to motivate themselves.
5. I think the Wright brothers enjoyed hard work and used it to motivate them to do better. They had what everyone believed to be a impossible task, and focused their entire life into solving it. They didn’t let setbacks keep them back and continued trying to think of creative solutions.
1 What surprised me the most is it took them ten years to develop the airplane. It is amazing that they were able to stick with it and pursue their dream of building one for that long without completely giving up.
I admired that they were able to build the airplane using knowledge they learned themselves instead of from going to college. This was seen when Wilbur observed birds flying for hours at a time, and used the knowledge he gained from that to create the wing design. He also used the mechanics he learned from operating a bike shop in the mechanics of the glider.
One thing I least admire about the Wright Brothers is their legal battles with other early aviators. The Wright brothers believed they owned the right to many of the aeronautical principles that they discovered and charged competitors with intellectual property theft. They were mostly unsuccessful in this due to the patents only relating to mechanics of the airplane not the theories behind them. Doing this the Wright brothers hurt the development of flight.
The Wright Brothers experienced many failures throughout the creation of their flyer. They made four flights on the Wright Flyer and when discussing the final flight, a strong wind flipped it, damaging it beyond repair. Despite many setbacks like this with the flyer getting damaged or destroyed, the Wright brothers continued to build flyers, making improvements every time, and kept pursuing their dream.
2. The Wright brothers seemed to keep going no matter what the set back was. Even when they couldn’t gain support from their fellow Americans, when the government was not interested, and the public believed that man was not meant to fly. They pushed through this and went to France where they gained the support they needed to finish designing and creating their flyer, and then brought it back to America.
3. One thing I found confusing is that they couldn’t find support in America for their flyer when they were creating it so they had to go to France. They contacted the U.S. War Department and they didn’t respond. The public and media didn’t offer much support due to their beliefs of man not supposed to be flying. When they went to France however, they were treated like heroes. I just find it confusing how Americans didn’t give them that treatment.
4. The first question I would ask them would be how they were able to keep pursuing their dream for so long. I just find it amazing that they were able to pursue flight for so long despite countless setbacks, and want to know where they found that kind of motivation. The second question I would ask is if after they created the flyer, if they could go back in time and tell themselves one piece of advice, what would it be? I think it would be interesting to hear what lesson they learned the most during this process that they would choose to motivate themselves.
5. I think the Wright brothers enjoyed hard work and used it to motivate them to do better. They had what everyone believed to be a impossible task, and focused their entire life into solving it. They didn’t let setbacks keep them back and continued trying to think of creative solutions.
Dear Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI also admire the determination it took during the process of designing and building the airplane. It really shows how far determination can bring entrepreneurs. I also am confused about how the brothers couldn’t find support in America for their flyer when they were creating it, so they had to go to France. I also agree the wright brothers would be motivated by hard work.