One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Airplane

by John Evangelist Walsh

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0690001037
• ISBN13: 9780690001037
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Crowell
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

THE book to read on the Wright Brothers

If you only want to read one book on the Wright Brothers, this is the one. As the other reviewers have said this one tells the whole and true story of the brothers' travails. I've read dozens of books on the Wrights,including their own 2 volume collection of writings. I also went to the 100th Anniversary of Flight in Kitty Hawk in 2003, so I'am pretty familiar with the story. I recently reread this book and I still find it inspirational. None of the other books I've read "tell the story" in as interesting and complete a fashion as author John Walsh does here. He is an engaging writer whose research is incredibly thorough. This was one of the very first Wright Bros. books I read and it got me to read many others. I have yet to read another book that is as enthralling as this one. Credit goes to John Walsh. His love of the subject matter is plainly evident on every page. Aside from the 1978 made-for-tv movie, "The Winds of Kitty Hawk", there has not been a dramatic Hollywood movie of the Wright Brothers story. It needs to happen, and with a big budget, but with no movie stars. It is an incredible tale and John Walsh's "One Day at Kitty Hawk" would make as excellent a screenplay as it does a casual read.

The True Story Unvarnished

Unlike Fred Kelly's attempt to write the sanitized "official biography" at Orville Wright's behest, John Walsh tells the real story, warts and all. It was through this book, that I learned that it was John R. McMahon who told the real story based on his revision of an original manuscript by Earl Findley. Orville had first turned to Findley to write the official Wright Brothers biography; but it was too near the truth; too personal; and he nixed the project after reading the manuscript. But the truth came out, when McMahon wrote a series of articles on the Wright Brothers in "Popular Science," January 1929. When he came to write his book, still based on the Finley manuscript, Orville protested and was able to get several passages, on threat of court action, changed in the book. For example, Orville didn't want the years Wilbur spent at home as an invalid, revealed. Orville also has himself elevated above Wilbur, as the creative driving force in the airplane's invention. If you want to investigate the real story, take the Kelly book with a grain of salt, and read instead, this excellent book by John Evangelist Walsh, "One Day at Kitty Hawk," published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1975. Even better, wouldn't it be good to have the unpublished Finley manuscript published, instead of suppressed. But don't look for the Walsh book at the Wright Brothers Memorial National Park Service Visitor's Center. In a recent interview with a National Park Service Ranger there, he told me the Park Service regularly reviews all books before being put on sale in their facility, and the Walsh book was not one they would put out for sale. After I explained to him my credentials, he freely admitted that the information in the Kelly book was Orville's attempt to "re-write" history. But he stated that the Park Service didn't want to ruffle feathers of Wright family members, by putting out the more correct John Walsh biography, which he admitted, was more accurate. I had always wondered why Orville, the more out-going of the two, would, in later life, say very little...he refused to give speeches, interviews, and said next to nothing at celebrations in honor of the Brothers.

One Day at Kitty Hawk

There are a number of excellent books about the Wright Brothers and their achievement in developing and introducing to a stunned world the first successful airplane. But "One Day at Kitty Hawk" is the best! Admittedly, John Walsh has compacted this story into a very few chapters, and he tells only the essentials, but never the less he paints a dramatic and compelling picture of the Wright's struggle to devise a practical powered airplane. One feels as if he were there at Kitty Hawk with the Wright's as they faced and overcame a host of frustrations and seeming failures, only to emerge triumphant at last. And, one comes away with the realization that the Wright's were far more than bicycle technicians, as Walsh reveals the very high level of the Wright's engineering knowedge and skill. The Wright's didn't guess or develop their airplane by trial and error, rather they applied scientific methods that were years ahead of their times. This is a five star book by any standard.

The human picture of Wright Bros.

This book is truly an eye opener. It is obvious that the author became more absorbed than he intended as he did the research for the book. I read this book again and again. It is really a detective story because of the secrecy and stealth of the brother's project and I believe the author was extremely careful to bring out the true story. I took it out of the library first, and then HAD to buy it for myself.You will find that there is much more depth to their story than you may have thought. The author is able to be technical enough to satisfy most aviation enthusiasts, but the real surprise is the brothers themselves. The author is also able to take us back into the late 19th century, in order to understand the public reaction to the brother's claims. You will have fun with this gem of a book!