The Wright Stuff: American Experience

Narrated by Garrison Keillor

On August 8, 1908 at a racetrack outside of Paris, Wilbur Wright executed what was, for him, a routine flight; a smooth take off banking into a couple of tight circles, ending in a perfect landing.The flight took less than two minutes, but it left spectators awestruck.Proving to the public that they had mastered manned flight, Wilbur and his brother Orville became world celebrities.

The combined talents of the Wright Brothers had produced a plane by 1903, but fears that their work would be stolen led them to keep their flying machine under wraps for five years.As other inventors were catching up, the secretive Wright Brothers were ridiculed as frauds.It wasn't until news of their work reached President Theodore Roosevelt and a deal was signed to build one of their planes for the U.S. Army Signal Corp, that they unveiled their flying machine in front of a group of skeptical French spectators.The plane and the Wrights were an instant success.

The Wright Stuff is the quintessential American story of two Midwestern boys who believed they could break the barrier of the air.Where others with government grants and engineering educations had failed, the Wright Brothers succeeded.