The History of the Airplane Engine — 12 HP Beat 52

In December 1903, Charles Manly was trapped in the icy Potomac under a 52-horsepower flying machine. Nine days later, a 12-horsepower engine flew. How the world's most powerful machines were really built, with the human cost left in. New documentary every other day, subscribe here: 👉 Construction Legends:    / @constructionlegends   ☕ Support our work: https://buymeacoffee.com/Construction... 📘 Steel, Steam and Nerve, our illustrated book on the machines that built America: https://www.construction-legends.com This documentary follows the engine that powered the first flight at Kitty Hawk and the man who built it. In December 1902 the Wright brothers wrote to ten engine makers; none could deliver. So their shop mechanic, Charlie Taylor, built one in about six weeks without drawings: four cylinders, an aluminum crankcase, about 180 pounds and 12 horsepower. Against him stood Samuel Pierpont Langley of the Smithsonian, with Army money and Charles Manly's 52-horsepower radial. Then Kitty Hawk, Fort Myer in 1908, the Vin Fiz in 1911, and the charity ward in 1955 where a reporter found the man who built the engine. More from Construction Legends: ⚙️ The History of the Diesel Engine — The Machine That Killed Its Inventor:    • The History of the Diesel Engine — The Mac...   ✈️ The History of the Jet Engine. Germany Flew It First:    • The History of the Jet Engine. Germany Fle...   🔧 The History of the Gasoline Engine — The Inventor Who Got It Wrong:    • The History of the Gasoline Engine — The I...   📌 CHAPTERS 00:00 The Engine Nobody Would Sell 04:41 Six Weeks Without a Drawing 08:27 Langley's 52 Horsepower 13:29 Kitty Hawk and Fort Myer 20:52 From the Vin Fiz to the Charity Ward SOURCES Charles E. Taylor, My Story of the Wright Brothers (Collier's, 25 Dec 1948), reprint: https://aviationpros.com/tools-equipm... National Park Service, Charles E. Taylor: https://www.nps.gov/people/charles-e-... Smithsonian NASM, Langley Aerodrome A: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection... Smithsonian NASM, Langley-Manly-Balzer Radial 5 Engine: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection... Smithsonian NASM, What Happened to the Original Wright Flyer: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/ed... John T. Daniels, Collier's interview (1927), Smithsonian Education: https://www.smithsonianeducation.org/... Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight (1911), Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47981... The New York Times, Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly (9 Oct 1903), Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ne... FAA, Charles E. Taylor, The Unsung Hero of Kitty Hawk: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/fil... Smithsonian NASM, Wright EX Vin Fiz: https://www.si.edu/object/wright-ex-v... #engineering #documentary #wrightbrothers #aviationhistory #history #invention #heavymachinery