Book Review - The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright

now if only they had been the first with the airplane...

Thanks, Ron, for your very engaging review of The Bishop's Boys. For years I had considered the Wright brothers to be a couple of bicycle mechanics who finally stumbled onto a workable plane that flew a few hundred feet. After a chance visit to their work shop in Dayton I discovered they were actually two scientists that designed and tested elements of their prototype by first testing the lift of wing models on their bicycles and later in a working wind tunnel that they designed, built, and used in their lab/shop. The data they recorded for those tests were very impressive. When they finally took off for Kitty Hawk, they were prepared to fly when they could catch just the right wind along that N. Carolina shore and catch it they did. I read a very detailed and definative book on the subject a few years back but after your review of the Bishops's Boys I can't wait to get my hands on it. Those two brothers are up in the top ten of my all-time heros. Thanks again. Lou bindner

You're welcome, Lou. I already knew quite a lot about them (was born & raised in Dayton, Ohio, and my first professional job had me working at Wright-Patterson AFB there, considered the world's largest military R&D base then - and might still be). I was very aware that they didn't just "stumble on" to a workable solution, as so many other would-be flyers expected to do, nor did they make grandiose claims prior to even testing (that's the scientist and engineer aspect of how they worked). I've read the other books - some quite good - and knew a decent amount, for an amateur. Mr. Crouch is a full-fledged pro who knows both how to dig out more, and how to write it out for others.

If you want to dig into the math & physics of how they achieved their results, find The Wright Brothers and the Birth of Aviation by Lester W. Garber, and The Wright Brothers as Engineers, An Appraisal & Flying with the Wright Brothers, One Man's Experience by Quentin Wald. Also, James Tobin's To Conquer the Air: the Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight.

Ron: In addition to the out-of-this-world Air Space Museum at the Smithsonium in DC I'm sure I remember a similar one at Wright-Pat that blew me away. Your working there had to have been an incredible experience and certainly made you well prepared to write that dazzling review of the The Bishop's Boys. Which begs the question: what is the relevance of the title, Bishop's Boys? I'll find out when I get my hands on the book but that might be a while until I finish the tome I'm working my way through on James Monroe. It's a great read and I can recommend it very highly, particularly if you're as uninformed about President Monroe as I.

Wilbur & Orville were two of the sons of Milton Wright, Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and his wife, Susan.

The Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB is one of the worlds' best, no question. I never worked in the museum, but rather mostly in laboratories in the Reconnaissance Division at the base. In those days, the museum was on another area of the base, so I didn't normally get near it. I did go there before, during, and since my time working at WPAFB. Now, I live about two hours' drive from the EAA museum in Oshkosh, WI, another great one that I don't get into often enough.

Thanks, Ron, for enlightening me on that issue. Ministers' sons are often hell raisers...Wilbur and Orville, being sons of a Bishop must have been over the top after work!