Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Were the Wright Brothers Jerks??
In this video I will go over a brief history of the Wright brothers and their historic work becoming the first to fly a heavier than air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on Dec 17, 1903.
However, the Wright brothers' plan to make money in aviation was not to build the best and most useful aircraft and sell them to the public and government. Rather, their plan was to patent their flight control system, focusing on warping wings to bank the aircraft, and make money from licensing fees from other airplane manufacturers.
The Wright brothers spent a great deal of time and effort suing other aircraft companies and chasing decisions through the court system, both here in the US and in Europe. The net effect was to hold back US aircraft development, such that when the US entered World War 1 in 1917 not a single US aircraft was suitable for combat operations.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:27 - Glider flights
03:03 - Aircraft control theory
06:46 - 1905-06 Wright flights
08:40 - 1908 France flights
10:20 - Wright patent details
14:25 - Franklin Roosevelt patent resolution
Were the Wright Brothers Jerks??
In this video I will go over a brief history of the Wright brothers and their historic work becoming the first to fly a heavier than air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on Dec 17, 1903.
However, the Wright brothers' plan to make money in aviation was not to build the best and most useful aircraft and sell them to the public and government. Rather, their plan was to patent their flight control system, focusing on warping wings to bank the aircraft, and make money from licensing fees from other airplane manufacturers.
The Wright brothers spent a great deal of time and effort suing other aircraft companies and chasing decisions through the court system, both here in the US and in Europe. The net effect was to hold back US aircraft development, such that when the US entered World War 1 in 1917 not a single US aircraft was suitable for combat operations.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:27 - Glider flights
03:03 - Aircraft control theory
06:46 - 1905-06 Wright flights
08:40 - 1908 France flights
10:20 - Wright patent details
14:25 - Franklin Roosevelt patent resolution
