Cowling, what i mean is that theres a tight figtting metal covering and allows the air to flow over more efficiently. So, mark burket of the spanish Swiss Company has designed a very important series of automobile engines in the prewar era. He adapts this to the aeronautical application by taking two of his inline four engines, makes it into a v8, and what he does thats very unique is instead of having separate cylinders attached to the crank case, he casts a row of cylinders out of a solid piece of aluminum. And he has cooling packagssages those aluminum blocks that allows improved cooling and more power. So instead of a rotary engine, you know, doing 110, 120 horsepower, youre looking at 200 or 220 horsepower with these engines by the time theyre introduced in the spad xii. Theres always a technological pushpull over the western front in world war i, in which the germans have an advantage with their thick air foiled tubular steel fuselaged aircraft like the folker d 7 that you can see in this gallery but the spad 13 is the french answer to that airplane, and its not asth as maneuverable, uh busy the speed. So theyre going to take this airplane and develop new fighter tactics in response to the german fighter tactics so this first generation of high scoring aces fly these in the french air squadron and this becomes as the highest performance airplane, it has 230 caliber machine guns firing through the propeller and the ability for these armz to fly fast and dive and climb away and come back and attack, that gives the french Fighter Squadron an advantage. One of the major Technological Innovations for Fighter Aircraft in world war i is the creation of a gun synchronizer system. That means you can mount a machine gun right in front of the pilot with a site and as you point the airplane, you can point your machine guns and hit your target. The problem with that is you have a spinning wood propeller in the way, and so the creation of a mechanical linkage set up to a cam on the propeller shaft, as the propeller blade crosses in front of the two machine guns or one machine gun, it actually turns off the machine gun and then as the propeller blade is past, the machine guns are turned back on. Now, as 1917 proceeds into 1918 and the entry of the United States into the war, you have American Air Service pilots coming into the western front, and theyre being equipped with french aircraft. Theres not a front line ready american fighter for the conflict, and this particular spad xiii that you see here that is in American Air Service markings, it was built by one of the manufacturers contracted to make spads. There were 8400 spads made total and the 22nd aerosquadron was assigned this airplane and a young pilot named ray brooks painted the name of his fiances college on there, smith college, and he had three previous airplanes, so its smith the 4th and he goes into combat with this airplane, he scores one aerial kill with this spad xiii. Some other pilots in the squadron shoot down at least five more, so this spad xiii flew with the first generation of american combat pilots. Now, ray brooks names this airplane after his fiances school and most people will name their airplane after their girlfriends themselves but he made a conscious decision. He didnt want to have this airplane damaged and people saying ruths damaged, we got to fix her. He wanted to keep her out of that situation so he names it after a college. Smith 4th is in its 1918 camouflage. What you also see along the fuselage and wings are these small black squares that have german crosses on them and those represent bullet holes that are shot through the fabric from combat, so those are small little indications of this being a combat airplane and surviving. The squares would have been applied by ground mechanics in the field, because theres no need to completely recover the airplane, and one of the interesting advantages of a strut and wire braced fabric covered airplane is that if the bullet goes through the fabric, it passes through the other side, so all it needs to be is patched and thats what the job of the mechanic would be, to patch that, restore the integrity and keep fighting. Now, at the end of world war i, you know, in november of 1918, this airplane is set aside by the Army Air Service and brought back to the United States. As to display what type of aircraft americans flew, which is a High Performance french fighter. But its also given to the Smithsonian Institution where it stays in the collection for decades, and its not until the 1980s that the airplane is fully restored and put on display in the world war i gallery. And so if you look at this panel right here, you can see fabric from that original airplane right here on display, so the fabric you see here is not original. Its restored fabric. But nonetheless, this is one of four remaining spads in the world and it tells that story of how the Wright Brothers original airplane was maximized and changed but still essentially the same in terms of the materials and the propulsion system and the systems that make it up. But it was a formidable combat fighter of world war i. And now were going to look at an eradefining airplane connected to Charles Lindbergh, the spirit of st. Louis. This flew the 3600 miles in 33. 5 hours from new york to paris, flown by Charles Lindbergh whose goal was to win the prize for the first nonstop flight from new york to paris. Orteig wanted to join his former country, france, with the United States. What this flight represents in the history of aviation is part of the telling of this airplane from what the Wright Brothers created and how it transitions over the 20s and 30s to what we would call the modern airplane. So, lindbergh was an unknown mail pilot who was thinking about, is this possible . And building upon that idea, he gets financers from st. Louis, people he trained them to fly, interacted with him in the aviation circles, and he gets the backing to either purchase a Long Distance airplane or to build one. And what happened is he ends up in san diego with Ryan Airlines, and he meets donald hall, their chief engineer, and they design a purposebuilt transatlantic airplane, the new york to paris, and lindbergh calls it the spirit of st. Louis in honor of his backers in st. Louis, but this is a product of his vision of what a Long Distance airplane would be. So, its not necessarily the most advanced airplane. It represents many of the known ideas about technologies that are reliable and durable with some gambles that he includes in the airplane as well. And so working with don hall, through the spring of 1927, lindbergh creates this airplane. And so, we see this. Its a high wing monoplane. Its a wood wing thats externally braced to the fuselage, and it has underneath its fabric in the fuselage, tubular steel framework. And thats an innovation that emerges in world war i, especially from the folker company, and that is a diversion from this wood bracing that weve seen since the Wright Brothers. But it still uses wires, and its still a framework like you would see with the internal strut and wire brace construction. But you know it works. And so, its also the basic design of this ryan airplane called the m 2 they base this airplane on. And so its this aircraft is designed for one thing, flying across the atlantic ocean, with one pilot, which is a gamble. All the other airplanes had multiple crew members as well as multiple engines but lindbergh takes that gamble because he says, the lighter the airplane, the simpler, i can control it. So this is an airplane built for endurance. 450 gallons of gasoline, which doubles the weight. So he has to learn how to handle this airplane, so when its finished in april of 1927, the first thing he does is he breaks a san diego to st. Louis transcontinental speed record. He visits his backers, flies on to new york, which is the jumping off point for this flight to paris. And so, this is where lindberghs choices really come into play, in which you dont see a canopy on this airplane, you see a door in the side. He used a periscope that he would actually deploy so he could see forward when hes taxiing the airplane or he would swivel the tail so he could look out the window or the side because whats in front of him are the oil and main fuel tanks and then the engine. And so thats to get all that in front of him in case he crashes, hes got that all in front of him rather than having a big gasoline tank coming behind him and crushing him to death or catching on fire and burning him alive. But look forward of the fuel tank area where it says, spirit of st. Louis and you see the radial engine. Thats a wright j 5 whirlwind, which is a corner stone of technology of the creation of modern airplanes. It is a radial engine thats cooled by the air traveling over the cylinders, and so you see them sticking out there so that they can be cooled as the air flow goes over them. And then but its a reliable engine. It stays, you know, it stays running for 33 hours, he knows that. He makes a conscious choice. Thats an advanced technology that hes embracing. So, tubular steel fuselage, wood wing, externally braced, those are known technologies that work, but the state of the art is that engine and right in front of that engine is an Aluminum Alloy fixed pitch propeller, and so its just like a Wright Brothers propeller, where its just fixed pitch, it creates thrust for one operating regime, but has this little innovation included in it that the Standard SteelPropeller Company innovates and is ready by the time lindbergh, who, in his memoir says, i want a metal propeller for this spirit of st. Louis and what he means is the Standard Steel ground adjustable pitch propeller, and what i mean by that is that you cant change the angle of the blades in the air, but if you need to change the pitch on the ground, you can loosen two rings, change the pitch for whatever setting you want it to be. So they can get you off the ground with that heavy weight of the fuel but give you enough cruise efficiency to get across the atlantic. So its a compromise. In many ways, the airplane overall is a compromise to get lindbergh across the atlantic ocean. So, the flight itself, lindbergh didnt have advanced navigational tools like a gps. He did have a compass, and he had this method called dead reckoning, in which he would use the stars and maps to plot his path. Hes going to fly the polar routes across instead of flying over the shipping lanes. Hes flying a much shorter distance over the curvature of the earth and he just gambles that hes going to fly this route and as soon as he gets to europe, hes going to figure out where hes at. Hes going to make his way to paris. He does that over the course of a day and a half and he lands at leberge just north of paris and is met by over 100,000 adoring fans, people cheering him on. And at that moment, the unknown lindbergh, the flight technologist, the person who worked with don hall to create this airplane, enters into this legendry status as the probably the supreme aviator of the world, especially in the United States, in which he becomes a household name, in which the growth and the Aviation Industry is seen as a result of what hes done in this flight, even though its an indication of things that are moving along, but he really exacerbates and improves and expands the idea of an Aviation Industry. People want to learn to fly as a result of him. By christmas, you could get a copy of the book called we. And we means lindbergh and the spirit together in their flight, so this pop culture phenomenon that lindbergh becomes is a result of this flight and its an eradefining moment in which america really turns the page in terms of understanding the power of the airplane, the excitement for that. In the wake of this flight to paris, lindbergh returns with the spirit, and he is going to do a national tour, through 1927, in which hundreds of thousands of americans are going to see him flying, see the spirit. Theyve read about the flight. Now they get to see him come though their hometown. By the end of the year, lindbergh goes on a tour of latin america, in which hes, you know, extending friendly relations with latin america and doing Long Distance flying there as well, and when you look at the front of the spirit, you see the flags of the nations that lindbergh visited during his latin american tour, but you also see some military insignia there, which are from the army and marine units that he interacted with over the course of that tour. Upon return of that flight in february and then in the spring of 1928, lindbergh gives the spirit of st. Louis to the Smithsonian Institution. And that artifact stays on display, arts and Industries Building, the old tin shed, throughout the history of the old national air museum, and then is on display in 1976 with the opening of the National Mall building of the national air and space museum, where its been on display ever since. And so the artifact that you see behind me is the original spirit of st. Louis. Its had some conservation work but thats the original fabric and metal. One of those one of a kind, original artifacts that makes the smithsonian aviation collection so important and why you need to see it. And we are back live outside the Smithsonian National air and space museum located along the National Mall in washington, d. C. It was on this date 40 years ago that president gerald ford dedicated this museum, the most popular among the smithsonian. And inside, among the displays, america by air from our earliest days of flight aviation with air transportation and mail carriers to the jet age of the 1950s to today, Space Operations and missiles, its all here. And i want to share an article that was in the Washington Post earlier this week on the spirit of st. Louis, one of the iconic planes that Charles Lindbergh had. Its been in the news because of some of the findings and notes on the plane when it was refurbished back in 1975, jeremy kinny is joining us, the curator. Talk about the spirit of st. Louis and some interesting things that you found over the last year or so. Well, you know, the spirit of st. Louis is a true milestone of flight. Charles lindbergh makes that epic transatlantic flight in 1927 and its always been a signature artifact of the smithsonian, especially the air and space museum, so this opportunity to redo this gallery, the boeing milestones of flight gallery, looking at this airplane and seeing the elements that are left by the people who made the airplane, the people at Ryan Airlines in san diego, the actual, you know, flags from the tours of europe as well as latin america, and the squadron markings of those units, so you see these people are making this contact with lindbergh and being part of this great story of aviation in the 1920s. You showed us some of the artifacts on display here, but your own background, why are you so interested in this area . Ive always been interested in aviation history. Growing up, it was all about old airplanes and i found an opportunity to study history and especially aerospace and aviation assist and it was a passion that i had that i was able to cultivate and grow and study and work hard and i ended up at the smithsonian. Im going to ask you probably an impossible question. Was there a turning point or turning points in americas aviation history . Well, we have to look at two eras. We have the era of the propeller driven airplane up until the end of world war ii. Lindbergh is the turning point. He is the person that really shows people that aviation is possible. After that, the invention of the jet engine, you see this moment in which you can increase the distance, increase the popularity of jet airliner travel and almost anyone can travel anywhere in the world today as a result of that. So you get a new display, some new argumetifacts, a new p, a new vehicle, flight plan. Where does it all go . How do you find space for it all . Well, thats always a challenge, because, you know, the large artifacts, this museum, the airplanes, the airliners, the spacecraft, they take up a lot of space. And so we have our National Mall building, we have, you know, almost 100 big artifacts here. We have our steven f. Center out near the airport but we have a lot of items on storage and on loan as well but the history of flight in and out the atmosphere of the museum is always developing and evolving so we have to think about whats that next object were going to collect. 2027488901 if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones, our guest is Jeremy Kinney who is the curator here at the national air and space museum. Were coming here because of the importance of today 40 years ago. Thats right. The opening of the national air and space museum on the mall and this is the first time that a Major National museum has been dedicated to the air and space, and its been an immensely popular activity for people visiting washington, d. C. , to come to the air and space museum. Do you have a favorite exhibit . For me, a favorite exhibit is probably the one im most currently working on so the pioneers of flight gallery. My favorite because of that curtis rc 3 object. But im working on the speed galley thats going to be oeng in a few years as part of our trfrps of the museum. Behind me is some early Computer Techn