The fascinating stories of the men who dreamed to conquer powered flight, those who harnessed the new technology and were tested by the early months of World War I are told by Peter Reese in this podcast.

The path towards manned flight was far from straightforward. Starting with the gifted inventor Sir George Cayley, the father of modern aerodynamics, Reese moves to those who made further steps towards flight, such as Henson, Stringfellow and Pilcher, before examining the work of the Wright Brothers.

Peter Reese then asks why Britain, the leading nation in science and technology during the nineteenth century, fell so far behind in the first years of the twentieth century and examines how Britons tried to catch-up with their foreign counterparts before World War I. Here he examines the work of pioneers such the early aircraft builders like Samuel Cody, Geoffrey de Havilland and “Tommy” Sopwith, test pilots Benny Hucks and Edward Busk and those who moved public opinion such as journalists Lord Northcliffe and C. G. Grey, before examining how Britain faced the test of aerial warfare.

The podcast was produced by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and recorded specially for the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Podcast series during 2019.