September 13, 2022 • 39 mins
How far would you go to fly? It's a question many inventors have asked themselves over the ages and, tragically, for every successful breakthrough it seems there were also dozens of failures, flops and -- sometimes -- fatal crashes. In part two of Flyin' or Dyin', Ben, Noel and Max explore modern inventors who died as a result of their flying contraptions.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. This is part two of
what will be a continuing series. We got very, very
into the idea, or not into, I don't know, fascinated
by the idea of inventors who died by their own inventions.
(00:49):
We thought it would be one episode, it might be
a series. We thought we would do just one episode
on all the people who died trying to fly. But
here we are shout out to super producer Max Williams.
Here we are an old It's part two. A lot
of people died trying to fly. Oh yeah, yeah, but
(01:11):
two also, I would jump in this might be very
morbid because I've already flown out by on vacation by
this point. So we hope you made it, buddy. Yeah,
me too. Yeah, don't tie. You're safer than you would
be in a car. Really, really, do you have a
statistics about that? Yeah, we'll get to it. The stories
(01:34):
of people who died trying to fly keep going. I
want to introduce a tailor to you now, folks. Tailor
by the name of Franz reiki. He died while testing
not an airplane but his own invention, which he called
the coat parachute. He jumped off the first deck of
(01:55):
the Eiffel Tower. H This guy was fascinated by the
innovations that he saw in the early days of airplanes
and being a cool dude. He was also concerned about
the people in those airplanes. There were a lot of
crashes back in those days, so he wanted to use
his tailoring skills to make a you could call it
(02:19):
a a parachute suit, which is a fun tongue twister.
Is this like an inspector gadget kind of situation? Like
like yeah, yeah, it kind of seems like it like
you pull a string and your trench code in flates
and you float gently down to the safety. You gotta
see the photos. Also, I want to jump in here
because used to the first deck of the tower. So
(02:41):
I'm sitting here, like how high up is that? And
from a quick Google search, it's a hundred and eighties
seven feet, so it's not like he's like five ft
in the air. He's he's up there. Yeah, that's the
that's the part of So that's the thing. There were
already parachutes around. They're what are called fixed canopy paras shoots.
And there were already parachutes that worked for high altitudes,
(03:04):
but our guy Franz wanted a parachute that would help
for people jumping from planes very low altitudes. And he said, look,
I picture him talking the ear off of his customers
right at his at his shop, and you know, he's
(03:27):
he's tailoring somebody's pants. He's adjusting their in seam or whatever,
and he's saying, you know, I make suits and pants
for a living, but I'm really in the parachutes. You
guys in the planes. And next thing you know, that
poor client is stuck there for thirty minutes while this
guy tells them all about how these pants would be
(03:48):
better if they were part of a suit that was
a parachute. He had a para su there it is,
so he said, I want something light enough that a
pilot can wear it without restricting their movement too much.
But I needed to be durable enough to save that
pilot's life if they are at a low altitude they
(04:08):
have to jump out of the plane. How James Bond
is this? James Bond is going to show up thematically
later in this episode, as you might imagine, and he
made these prototypes, and all his prototypes were terrible, Like
he had dummies, he had mannequins, thank goodness for the
first few rounds, and they just fell to the ground.
(04:32):
The parachute wasn't catching enough air. He was notable in
the public sphere, in the media of the day, and
he would say things like my invention is like nothing else.
It's constructed basically half in waterproof fabric and half in
silk thanks to a system of rods and belts that
one can control the parachute deploys during a fall, and
(04:55):
we'll save a pilot's life. That's big talk when all
your dummies are hitting the ground almost immediately. Uh. Not
to be dissuaded, Franz tried one out himself one of
his earlier prototypes. He jumped, he pulled, he tried to fly,
He broke his leg. Yeah, did you ever do that
(05:17):
thing with the eggs in school? Or you have to
like keep the eggs from breaking, and they're all you
could do in any different number of ways, sort of
like Pinewood Derby style, but like a lot of people
did parachutes or like you know, different kinds of packing.
But it wasn't easy. It's not easy. Uh. And and
this guy seems like he went to the human trial
part of the experiment a little over his zendless thing
(05:38):
a little too early. I remember in seventh grade doing
that doing the experiment. Was a couple other classes did it,
and all the other classes, like teachers got on top
of like a ladder drop that mine was like a
gym coach and got off the topic just like would
chuck him down like full like fourth throw spiking. That's unfair. Yeah,
he's spiking them from the top of of a ladder. Uh.
Mine did not make it, by the way, it a
(06:00):
commitment to the bit, you know what I mean. Like
it's like I I believe in myself. Um, but yeah,
I can imagine a lot of those ending in failure.
What happened here? Then? Oh yeah, So he's convinced it's
not me that's wronged. He says, it's the way it's
being tested. What I need to do to make sure
(06:21):
this works is to jump from a higher elevation. That's
the problem. I broke my leg because I wasn't brave enough.
In an interview before his death, he says the suits
has not had time to make contact with the air.
If I had fifty or one d instead of the
results would be wonderful. I will prove it one day. Uh.
(06:46):
And something that really changed his mind here, nol or
something that really, um, I guess compelled him was the
aero Club de France, who offered a prize of ten
thousand francs books to anyone who could create a safety
parachute four aviators that was lightweight. As long as it
(07:08):
didn't weigh more than and it worked, they would give
you ten thousand francs. That's why he starts looking at
the Eiffel Tower and he goes to the police and says,
I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I made
this awesome parachute. I need you to let me jump
(07:28):
off the Eiffel Tower. And of course they say, no,
you're crazy, that's not gonna work. Yeah, no, we can't
be held responsible. You know. It's like, do you think
those like fly guys get permission to to climb their
way up of buildings or like the dude the tight
rope walk between the twin towers. Now you're you're doing
a crime. And the reason is because liability. The people
(07:52):
can't be held responsible for for the insane daring do
of others. So this always involves some form of dress passing. Uh.
It's also why, you know, self experimentation is still highly
controversial and and I think considered pretty unethical, uh, in
in the medical field and in research. Yes, yeah, no,
I mean it's true. It's a debate that continues today.
(08:14):
And like many other people, I love that you mentioned
the fly guy, our boy Frands decides that maybe it's
better to play along, Maybe you should have asked forgiveness
rather than permission. But he badgers the police for an
entire calendar year, and they finally say, okay, you gotta
(08:37):
stop coming to the station. We will let you test
the parachute, so long as you use a dummy or
mannequin that's roughly human sized. You just can't have a
living person jump off the Eiffel Tower with your cockamami
parachute idea. And he says, yeah, absolutely, I get it.
(08:58):
You know, we are agreed on this. And so around
seven am on February four n he gets journalists, he
gets cameramen, he gets friends and family to watch him
leap from the Eiffel tower. That's right, him not a dummy. Everybody, literally,
(09:26):
everybody at the scene told him this was a terrible idea.
His friends, his family, journalists, a guy who's just working
security is saying, dude, don't jump, And he said he
had to. He said, I intend to prove the worth
of my invention. So one French paper of note La
(09:46):
Martine observed that reich Helps determination to jump caused ripples
of unease to to spread throughout the crowd. The papers said,
quote among the spectators only he seemed happy. Next morning
there everyone thought he would kill himself. Uh yeah, that's
definitely a jumper type situation. I wish you would step
(10:08):
back from that ledge, my friend. Please, you're making us
all really uncomfortable. You could cut ties with whatever, yes
if you agree. Yeah, that was a golden era of
overenunciation in rock singing. You know, it's like and if
you do see me ucky, I mean weird, absurd vowel
(10:32):
sounds really nonsensical, but yeah, I like I like Noel.
Noel has a great story. True A third eye blind Cossert,
which basically saved for a live show show Me Faces
Franz write, held is is yelling at the crowd from
the first deck of the Eiffel Tower. No, he's seriously.
(10:54):
Everybody is telling him this is a bad, bad idea,
and he says, you are going to see how I'm
not parachute will give your arguments the most decisive of
the wrong. I'm gonna do this right right. He's getting
heckled by people who will hope he is alive tomorrow
and he's not listening. About an hour and twenty two
(11:16):
minutes pass, so it's am He is stepping up onto
a small table by the edge of the platform and
he does this move. This so cinematic. He has a
newspaper and he rips part of the newspaper and let's
it fly. And he's watching the wind. He wants to
(11:37):
see the direction of the wind. Hesitates for a bit,
and the crowd is thinking, Okay, we talked him down.
He's not gonna do it, or he's going to use
a dummy. And he looks at the crowd. We don't
know exactly what his facial expression is, but he jumps.
He jumps wearing his parachute, and his parachute folds instantly
(11:58):
around him. He plummets down to the wrong direction, right
of course, of course, the wrong direction towards the craft.
But I mean the parachute deploys what incorrectly When you
say it folded around him, that just means it didn't
really deploy properly. It was like exact, did not catch
the air. Because again I keep coming back to the
(12:20):
image of Inspector Gadget, but it really was a thing
he used a lot. He had this rip cord. He'd
pull on his gray, you know, kind of iconic trench coat,
and then it would it look like he would either inflate,
which wouldn't make sense unless it was like, you know, airtight.
Presumably Inspector Gadget was some sort of hybrid robot man
um cyborg exactly, but I think it really was meant
(12:41):
to because also I would say that the design of
Inspector Gadget is based almost entirely on Inspector Clusseau from
the Pink Panther movies. That the same you know, Fedora,
even like he resembles him, like in the shape of
his nose and stuff. But I would not be surprised
if that was a nod to this guy, the Inspector
Gadget parachute coat. That's an interesting theory. And you know,
(13:04):
as an eagle scout, I always admired Inspector Gadget. That
dude was prepared. You know, he was walking the walk,
maybe in a silly way, but he was also a fool,
and he he needed his this little niece, Penny and
her dog to solve his crimes for him from behind
the scenes. Also love the Penny had this thing that
she called a computer book, which is now a tablet
(13:29):
like love Dr Claw. Uh, there is one canonical version
of claws actual face from an action figure. It was disappointing. No,
keep the mystery alive. Don't really don't don't know he'll
be disappointed. You're not gonna like it, alright, Well, uh,
(13:52):
I feel like I'm the crowd at the Eiffel Tower
and you are you looking for Dr Clau's face is
like trying to test out your parachute suits. I like it,
I like it. I don't like it. It's disappointed. He's
go kind of like a like a uh, what's his name?
What's that? Director? Jim jarmash kind of hair, he's got this,
(14:15):
he's got a scar and in his mouth. But I
always pictured him being an android too, or someone more
like Memra from from from ThunderCats. So I will say
based on the voice and based on the mystery, was better.
But I kind of I dig the I dig this design,
you know. I I maybe I'm being too hitchcocky and
(14:36):
maybe I'm saying the imagination is more terrifying than what's
seen on screen. But if you want to, if you
want to see a good reveal of an enigmatic villain,
check out check out Cobra Commander and in the animated
g I Joe film. Now that was a good reveal. Uh.
I also bet you this Dr Clauw action figure fetches
(14:58):
a pretty penny if you have an unopened one, because
it looks like the boxed version. The face is obscured
with like a sticker. It says, reveal the mysterious Doctor Claw.
I just have a feeling that one is not particularly common.
But let's see. Yeah. Well, one thing we won't find
(15:18):
is an action figure of our pal Frounds because it
would be in very poor taste. This is not an
action figure you want to create. You don't want the
army man aspect with a parachute because his parachute did
not work. Noble attempt. It was assured he was, as
a newspaper of the time wrote, two seconds after he
(15:41):
jumps in a pitiful wreck, he lay on the icy grass.
He fell almost standing. Blood trickled through his mouth, nose,
and ears. His right arm and leg were crushed, his
skull and back were broken. He died instantly. But don't worry, folks,
the story goes on. There are some more or brilliant
people who have died trying to fly. Now there's one
(16:04):
that we wanted. I was thinking we skip, but uh,
I had some insider info from our super producer Max. Uh. Max,
where where are we going with this? You've promised this
an Easter drag in the notes, So there's actually an
Easter dragon Scarram. It's in more Wind as well, but
um Scarum is the one that we're referencing too. So
(16:26):
you just kind of will be like running through the
wild of sky Roum and you can happen upon a
major who is like summoning a spell, and when you're
close on and he will shoot himself into the air.
You'll just hear him giggling and celebrating and screaming being like,
oh my god, that's amazing. I can fly. Kind of
like a version of that. Yes, I remember this, but
(16:46):
but but he reaches like the like, you know, the
peak of his ascent, and then you hear his tone
kind of change as he starts plummeting back down to
the ground. Two more of a scream, and then he
splashed on the ground and dies because he clearly had
finally figured out how to make himself fly, but he
had never figure out how to land. Yeah, that's a
(17:08):
big part of it, Like the landing a big part
of it. He really reminds me a lot of our
first guy, Ben, you jumped off the mosque. That seems
like a similar scenario in terms of that a moment,
you know. Yeah, everybody's gotten over their head in one
endeavor or another. Uh, this is uh, let's put on
our car stuff caps really quickly and fast forward to
(17:31):
the modern day. It's a guy named Henry Smolensky. Henry
Smolinsky is the type of dude who looks at a
Ford Pinto and thinks, why the hell isn't this already
a plane. I don't know if we've all been there,
but that's where that's where his head's at. Yeah, I
do feel as though it'd be cool if we were
(17:53):
in more of like a flying cars era of the future.
But also, let's just talk about the logistics of that
seems very unmanageable. I mean, think of all of the
personnel it takes just to keep flights commercial flights, you know,
in private planes from crashing into one another, and like
all of the you know, pomping circumstances around takeoff and landing,
all of that stuff. If people were just driving flying
(18:15):
cars everywhere, there'd be mid air collisions left to right.
It'd be a nightmare health game. And I hate to
say it, man, but I've I had a long standing,
long standing argument with my good pals Scott Benjamin on
the show car stuff about everything that floats, fly, swims
or drives, because Scott was very much against flying cars,
(18:39):
and I was, to be completely honest, I understood his
problems with the the idea. He's right, by the way,
and you're right, noal flying cars on mass or a
terrible idea. My position was, flying cars are awesome if
I'm the only one who has one, and it's like,
that's the only realistic way to think about flying can't
(19:00):
tell anybody. Don't tell anybody, because if people know that
you have. If people know that Ben has one, then
then everyone else to know. Well if I had one,
if I had one, you guys know how I am.
If I if I had one, then I would try
to get you guys each. I feel like the four
of us, Max and you KNOWL and me and you listening,
(19:20):
fellow ridiculous historian. I think it's already gone too far.
It's already got to who's next. Who's next? Well, that's
the thing. Humans have never been particularly gassed about settling
on anything. So as soon as the first cars are
rolling out, the first internal combustion vehicles or are rolling
out and there becoming a real thing. Instantly people look
(19:44):
at these amazing machines and say, why can't this fly? Uh?
The fancy name for it is a rotable aircraft. And
we know people have been working on this for a
while because the first patent for something like a flying
car comes about in nineteen eighteen by a guy who
(20:04):
I I put this name in here because I knew
we would all love it. No, this guy's real name
is Felix Longobardi, because of course it is. Why wouldn't
it be Felix Longobardi patented a vehicle with retractable wings
that also had propellers. It was sort of like a
like a like a like a C to air kind
(20:26):
of situation. So if you if you hit the water,
you'd have these propellers. It would allow you to carry on,
you know, moving. Is it more of a fail safe
bend or is it really meant to be a multi
terrain vehicle? Well? Uh, you know it never really wait
for it got off the ground. I think I think
(20:49):
in an ideal world it's a multi terrain vehicle. It's
it can be a boat if it needs to be.
It can be a car if it needs to be.
It can be a plane. It's a beautiful idea. It
just didn't work out quite as Felix wish. Uh. There
was another thing. A guy named Robert E. Fulton creates
the Airphibian. I love that name Airphibian. Uh. And this
(21:12):
this one makes it to the prototype stage. It gets
certified by a government organization, the Civil Aeronautics Administration. But again,
if you look through your local parking lot, you will
see that there are no Airphibians nestled there next to
your cameras and your God forbid Honda Honyssey's Can you
(21:35):
imagine a Honda Odyssey and the sky would be like
everyone see no, by the way, I'm not gonna say
anything else, no spoilers, but it's very cool movie. Uh
but can you imagine if if Honda Odyssey just kind
of came at you from the clouds dive bombs you
ban that one that's been stalking you low these many years. Well,
(21:56):
I'm not gonna I'm not thank you. Thank you guys
for that. Uh So we know each other too well, Yes,
you are correct, sir, But what what we're establishing here
is that by hook or by crook, so many people
have tried to make cars fly, and the vast majority
(22:18):
of these attempts have been unsuccessful. They haven't made it
to a U a full production phase. Right. It's it
would be weird for you to see a flying car
casually in the field. If you see something calling itself
a flying car erotable aircraft today, you're probably at a
(22:38):
special event. You're probably not stuck in traffic. But these
previous failures did not stop our guy, Henry Smolinsky, until
you know, it did stop him. He has some bota fides.
(22:59):
He was an aeronautical engineer out in California, and he
and his pal fellow college student Harold Blake, they had
both graduated from the Northrop Institute of Technology, their aeronautical engineers.
They started a company pretty recently nine it's called Advanced
Vehicle Engineers, and they make something called the A V
(23:21):
E MISAR M I Z A R. And this is
a this no kidding, please look at the picture if
you're able to pull this up on your browser choice.
They took a Ford Pinto, yes, the famous Ford Pinto,
and they smacked the back half and wings of a
(23:44):
small plane Assessma Skymaster onto it. So if you look
at it, it looks like a Ford Pinto that had
some video game friends. It looks like someone had some DLC,
some downloadable content. They did DLC thing to this Ford Pinto. U. Okay,
(24:08):
it looks weird. It looks like it cannot fly, but
they wanted it to, you know, fly. They would use
the car engine the aircraft engine to take off, which
would shorten the time it needed on the runway, and
then once you're in the air, you turn off the
car engine. And the ideas that it would have uh
(24:32):
wings supports that could extend you could tie down the
wings like any other aircraft, and if you wanted, how
inspector gadget is this, you could detach the Skymaster part.
You could get rid of the wings and the plane
engine and you could just drive your Ford pinto out. Yeah.
(24:52):
I like this in theory, but again in practice sort
of another story. People felt the same, at least in
terms of the excitement part. In nineteen seventy three, things
were going super well, first Leminski and a V E,
and by mid nineteen seventy three there were two prototypes
that he had built and three more were in development
and actually starting to be built. One prototype was slated
(25:13):
for uh display at a Van Nye h Ford dealership
owned by one of a V's partners, Bert Bochman. The
other prototype was fitted with a Teleedne Continental motors to
ten horsepower engine, and it was unveiled at a press
event on May eighth, nineteen seventy three, and both vehicles
for photographed by a very well known photographer belonging to
(25:36):
Peterson Publishing Group named Mike Brenner for hot Rod magazine.
This is a big deal, is making some waves. I
like how you see a hot Rod magazine too that
felt really cool. Uh. Yeah, they they're getting f a
a certification. They're doing flights to get this certification. Rather
and a partner with someone who will be well known
(26:00):
to any any gear head, any fellow car enthusiasts. An
automobile dealer named galpin Ford. Galpin Ford you might recognize. Uh,
they have a have a like a subsidiary, a customer
arm called galpin Auto Sports, which is the garage from
Pimp My Ride Shout Out exhibit. You know, he's the
(26:22):
guy who heard you like trunks, so puts the trunk
in your trunks so you have more trunk space in
your trunk anyway, Yeah, I'm more room for for for
for the sub subway first, Uh you go in the trunk. Also, man,
I'd say, what was it in We were somewhere maybe
it was Dallas. There there were a lot of hypercolor
(26:43):
kind of like uh, spinner really was very popular, like
those like kind of led spinner rims. It seemed like
there was like a whole gaggle of like you know,
ones running together and like cruise almost like like like
like the like the dirt bike and a TV gangs
that roam the streets of a Also those three wheeled
(27:03):
cars that are also very like Tron looking, and a
lot of those in Dallas too. Yeah, yeah, and they're fun.
I I have not bought one, I've driven around on one,
but they're they're pretty fun. I just don't know if
they're a daily driver because they don't have a time.
They're not. They'd be like go kart prices. Now they're
(27:24):
street legal, questionably so, but yeah, they're like it's as
much as like a sedan, A little bit of a
flex for sure. And here's how popular the Here's how
popular Smlinsky's vehicle was. It was going to be featured
in a James Bond film, The Man with the Golden
Gun four and that same year was featured. It was
(27:49):
going to hit dealerships and if you wanted to buy
one of these Ford Pinto Cessna's, it's if you wanted
to buy this, you would pay about eighteen thousand, three
hundred dollars for the bottom of the barrel, all the
way up to twenty nine thousand dollars with all the
bells and whistles. At this point, it is time for
(28:10):
our inflation calculator. We got some boops, we've got some beeps.
Keep a boo boo, boop bee doop wonderful. That is
our inflation calculator. Eighteen thousand, three hundred dollars in nineteen
(28:30):
seventy four is about one hundred and eight thousand, one
hundred and seventy three dollars and seventy four cents today.
I don't want to sound like a cheap skate, but
I think that's a lot for a car. I have
a question. I mean, I don't know, I'm gonna ask
a question, and I think no one in the history
of question asking has ever asked why does there have
(28:51):
to be inflation? Why can't things just stay the same? Man?
Is it about population increase and demand on resources and whatnot?
Just because capitalism is a Ponzi scheme that will ultimately
collapse on itself. These are good questions. Yeah, yeah, it's
sort of like why, you know, like companies have to
show year over year growth or else. You know, like
(29:16):
there comes a point where how is that even possible?
And you know, I mean it is. They they'll make
it possible, or they'll do it with like creative accounting um.
But it's just it does seem like a like a
losing proposition at the end of the day unless you're
in podcasting. Okay, yeah, we we gotta show growth. To man,
the boss will be looking at those numbers. Not jeez,
(29:37):
not jeez. Uh. Well, at least we're not selling Honda
Odyssey's So everything is everything is perfect for Smolinsky and co.
Right now, it's nineteen seventy three. Nineteen seventy four is
gonna be a big year. Everybody's excited. They're doing the
test flights. Stuff is looking pretty legit until late August
(29:59):
ninet seventy three there's a pilot named Charles Genie, and
Charles says, okay, I'm on this test flight and right
wing strut attachment has disconnected. The wing is unsupported. It's
just flapping around like the ario knots of old. You
know that the flappity flappity leads to the splattit e splattity.
(30:23):
So he says, I can't turn this with the flappity wing.
You guys need to look at this. This is a
serious design problem. So Spellisky and Blake look at it.
They do take this seriously. They fixed the strut and
they give it a once over. They take it out
again just a few weeks later, and respect to them
(30:44):
because they didn't want to endanger anybody else's life. They
did to your earlier point self experimentation. Unfortunately, they were
not able to fully fix the issue. The support failed
once again. Wind Smolinsky himself as the islet tried to
make a turn that right wing crumpled, the whole agglomeration
(31:05):
of the Pinto and the Cessna crashed. Both men died.
These are just a few of the people, not only
inventors who died due to their own inventions, but just
a few of the people who died trying to fly.
So every time you are on an airplane, and one
of us is going to be on an airplane very soon,
(31:26):
every time you're on an airplane, thank those people. Thank
you for that. Wait, I was like, is it, Oh yeah, Max,
vacationero phobia. Hey, speaking of landing, I'll send you this
Instagram video that'll that'll put your your fears at ease.
I saw the most remarkable, just absolute bork landing of
(31:48):
a commercial flight on Instagram. It's like the thing it's
just coming in at this absurd angle and it hits.
It doesn't explode, it just flips over and skids upside down.
To a stop. I don't think anyone died, but like,
what what terror? Can you imagine the terror? Why did
you tell me that? Also because we want to help
(32:09):
you confront your aerophobia, manas I even guys, I fly
in Alaska out to Seattle even strong the extra fifty
six bucks to get business class. Business class. It's like
previous Yeah, comfort plus it's like, I mean, I'm six
ft tall, um like pounds. I'm gonna give you an
(32:30):
ish there. So I clearly don't fit in most planes.
So I got that extra four inches. So I was
gonna be all it's it's I was gonna enjoy it.
But now I'm just to be thinking about the plane
nose diving and like you know, cartwheeling down down the runways.
For me, I fly all the time. The landing is
always that's when things could go south. I like to
sit in the very front or in the very back
(32:52):
because I like the I like the bump. You know,
if I'm if I'm already paying for a ticket and
I fly probably too much, honestly. But if i'm if
I'm paying for the ticket, then give me a little
roller coaster at the end. You know what I'm saying
what is life? I always gripped the seat in front
of me just a little bit every time, and uh,
they haven't haven't had a flipper yet. So you'll be fine, Max,
(33:15):
You'll be fine. The odds are in your favor as
little as you fly, Max, get a windows seat. Get
a windows okay, hell, get the emergency exit seat. That
the one that's the one with the most leg room,
you know, yeah it is. Also it's the one with
the most power and responsibility. I always try to fly
and exit seat windows style. You lose a little windows.
(33:38):
Sometimes you might just get the porthole. But those people
depend on you, and it's cool to be a hero.
Maybe am I a little too proactive and a little
too enthusiastic when the flight attendant asked me for that
verbal yes? Maybe I should just say yes instead of hell. Yeah.
These are questions, and they're fair questions. I was my
(33:59):
own kind of hero on a flight recently, Ben, there
was a particularly obnoxious child who was sitting next to me,
and I had the window seat, and her mother was
seated next to her in the middle, and then the
child and then this is one of these children, there's
just like I want the thing that I can't have me,
which was the windows seats. I gave her my window seat,
(34:21):
and the mother was so appreciative, and the flight attendant
heard me do it and rewarded me with sky miles.
But mainly, I mainly just didn't want to hear that
kid yowling the whole trip, so it was sort of
a self serving. But I think in some small way
I did a service for everyone on that plane. I
will take that. I will take those accolades, Yeah I did.
(34:42):
I'm fine with aisle seat. I like either aisle seat
or of course, window seat. But I'll see it's good
because you can get up anytime. You don't have to
worry about bugging. I'm also yeah, I mean, I'm not.
I'm not, I'm not six. I don't need a window
seat anymore. It's fun. I don't mind it. But I
think I prefer the aisle seat except getting your elbows back.
I like the windows. Planes are amazing. A lot of
(35:04):
people died so that we could witness, uh and participate
in this fascinating technology. Window seats forever. Uh. And you guys,
you know, I'll wave to you and when you're over
on the aisle seat, and I respect you and Max.
We didn't want this stand on a bad note, and
aerophobia is a real thing. Uh, So for you, my friend,
(35:26):
we wanted to wrap today's show with a couple of
hopefully reassuring facts. You are way safer. You are way
safer taking a flight to Seattle than you are taking
a road trip. Uh And there are numerous reasons why
we pulled some National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data back
(35:49):
in uh Let's say the numbers were roughly the same
before COVID. There were thirty two thousand more than thirty
two thousand fatal car accidents that led to over thirty
five thousand deaths. That means that there were people who
were not involved with the cars who died. They weren't driving,
(36:12):
they weren't necessarily passengers, they died. Uh. And this means
that there were one point one three fatalities per one
hundred million vehicle miles traveled. That's eleven people for every
one thousand US residents. Cars are not subject to the
same scrutiny, the same maintenance, the same rigorous regulation as planes.
(36:37):
So dude, you are whether you're in the aisle seat
or the window seat, nobody wants the middle seat whether
whatever seat you're in, Uh, you are way safer than
you would be on a road trip, even if you
were with me and Mill, which would be epic. We
should do a road trip, Oh, I'd love to. Speaking
of Earl Pala Scott Benjamin, we did a incredible road
trip years ago, actually a road rally, like a scavenger hunt,
(37:01):
all across the these United States, and it was a delay. Um. Yeah,
we should make that happen again very soon. But in
the meantime, I think it's time to put an end
to this. Uh, this two parter proactively proactive two yes, yes,
that is correct. Uh. And we hope that you have
enjoyed this as as much as we did. Folks. Again,
(37:23):
every death is a tragedy, but these brave pioneers of
the sky have fundamentally changed the way that people interact
with their environment. And we hope you tune in for
future iterations of this. Let us know, uh, let us
know your tales of inventors who have died by their
(37:45):
own hands, such as there's a fun fact I throw
in because I don't know whether this belongs in a
in a full episode, but uh Noel Max did you gout.
You guys know the Denver Airport, right, there's that big
nightmarish stalion statue. The guy who made that died as
a result of that statute. What do you mean as
a result? How did he die? Who did this to him?
(38:08):
It fell on him? Oh my god, that's awful. There's
also an insane mural at Denver Airport this guy, like
the the weird gas masks kind of Gestapo figure, swinging
a giant saber across a like a rainbow of like
indigenous people carrying dead babies. It's very strange. Didn't they
move some of that or they got rid of some
(38:29):
of it? I don't know. It was always very controversial
and there were even, like you know, all kinds of
conspiracies scrolling around the Denver for this is news to me.
This just happened in two thousand six. The sculptor was
killed when part of the blue Mustang statue fell on him, unfortunately,
severed an artery in his leg. I thought, you said,
(38:51):
we working in it's on a bummer, Ben. That's a
total bummer, right, right you are. We don't want to
be a bummer. Because he liked the aviation pioneers, in
this series. Uh, he did leave a legacy, and it's
important to remember that history is closer than it may
(39:11):
appear in the rear view. There we go. Oh my gosh,
my car stuff is coming out. We got to end
the show. At least he didn't sever an artery in
his legacy. Am I right? The show already, I'm gonna start.
I'm gonna start ripping off people's names and thank you. Alright, alright, thanks, thanks,
thanks Max, thanks for the check in. Also thanks to
our super producer Max. Thanks to Alex Williams composed the track. Yeah,
(39:38):
Jonathan Streetlin, Alright, alright, we're out, We're out, everybody, We'll
see someone. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. This is part two of
what will be a continuing series. We got very, very
into the idea, or not into, I don't know, fascinated
by the idea of inventors who died by their own inventions.
(00:49):
We thought it would be one episode, it might be
a series. We thought we would do just one episode
on all the people who died trying to fly. But
here we are shout out to super producer Max Williams.
Here we are an old It's part two. A lot
of people died trying to fly. Oh yeah, yeah, but
(01:11):
two also, I would jump in this might be very
morbid because I've already flown out by on vacation by
this point. So we hope you made it, buddy. Yeah,
me too. Yeah, don't tie. You're safer than you would
be in a car. Really, really, do you have a
statistics about that? Yeah, we'll get to it. The stories
(01:34):
of people who died trying to fly keep going. I
want to introduce a tailor to you now, folks. Tailor
by the name of Franz reiki. He died while testing
not an airplane but his own invention, which he called
the coat parachute. He jumped off the first deck of
(01:55):
the Eiffel Tower. H This guy was fascinated by the
innovations that he saw in the early days of airplanes
and being a cool dude. He was also concerned about
the people in those airplanes. There were a lot of
crashes back in those days, so he wanted to use
his tailoring skills to make a you could call it
(02:19):
a a parachute suit, which is a fun tongue twister.
Is this like an inspector gadget kind of situation? Like
like yeah, yeah, it kind of seems like it like
you pull a string and your trench code in flates
and you float gently down to the safety. You gotta
see the photos. Also, I want to jump in here
because used to the first deck of the tower. So
(02:41):
I'm sitting here, like how high up is that? And
from a quick Google search, it's a hundred and eighties
seven feet, so it's not like he's like five ft
in the air. He's he's up there. Yeah, that's the
that's the part of So that's the thing. There were
already parachutes around. They're what are called fixed canopy paras shoots.
And there were already parachutes that worked for high altitudes,
(03:04):
but our guy Franz wanted a parachute that would help
for people jumping from planes very low altitudes. And he said, look,
I picture him talking the ear off of his customers
right at his at his shop, and you know, he's
(03:27):
he's tailoring somebody's pants. He's adjusting their in seam or whatever,
and he's saying, you know, I make suits and pants
for a living, but I'm really in the parachutes. You
guys in the planes. And next thing you know, that
poor client is stuck there for thirty minutes while this
guy tells them all about how these pants would be
(03:48):
better if they were part of a suit that was
a parachute. He had a para su there it is,
so he said, I want something light enough that a
pilot can wear it without restricting their movement too much.
But I needed to be durable enough to save that
pilot's life if they are at a low altitude they
(04:08):
have to jump out of the plane. How James Bond
is this? James Bond is going to show up thematically
later in this episode, as you might imagine, and he
made these prototypes, and all his prototypes were terrible, Like
he had dummies, he had mannequins, thank goodness for the
first few rounds, and they just fell to the ground.
(04:32):
The parachute wasn't catching enough air. He was notable in
the public sphere, in the media of the day, and
he would say things like my invention is like nothing else.
It's constructed basically half in waterproof fabric and half in
silk thanks to a system of rods and belts that
one can control the parachute deploys during a fall, and
(04:55):
we'll save a pilot's life. That's big talk when all
your dummies are hitting the ground almost immediately. Uh. Not
to be dissuaded, Franz tried one out himself one of
his earlier prototypes. He jumped, he pulled, he tried to fly,
He broke his leg. Yeah, did you ever do that
(05:17):
thing with the eggs in school? Or you have to
like keep the eggs from breaking, and they're all you
could do in any different number of ways, sort of
like Pinewood Derby style, but like a lot of people
did parachutes or like you know, different kinds of packing.
But it wasn't easy. It's not easy. Uh. And and
this guy seems like he went to the human trial
part of the experiment a little over his zendless thing
(05:38):
a little too early. I remember in seventh grade doing
that doing the experiment. Was a couple other classes did it,
and all the other classes, like teachers got on top
of like a ladder drop that mine was like a
gym coach and got off the topic just like would
chuck him down like full like fourth throw spiking. That's unfair. Yeah,
he's spiking them from the top of of a ladder. Uh.
Mine did not make it, by the way, it a
(06:00):
commitment to the bit, you know what I mean. Like
it's like I I believe in myself. Um, but yeah,
I can imagine a lot of those ending in failure.
What happened here? Then? Oh yeah, So he's convinced it's
not me that's wronged. He says, it's the way it's
being tested. What I need to do to make sure
(06:21):
this works is to jump from a higher elevation. That's
the problem. I broke my leg because I wasn't brave enough.
In an interview before his death, he says the suits
has not had time to make contact with the air.
If I had fifty or one d instead of the
results would be wonderful. I will prove it one day. Uh.
(06:46):
And something that really changed his mind here, nol or
something that really, um, I guess compelled him was the
aero Club de France, who offered a prize of ten
thousand francs books to anyone who could create a safety
parachute four aviators that was lightweight. As long as it
(07:08):
didn't weigh more than and it worked, they would give
you ten thousand francs. That's why he starts looking at
the Eiffel Tower and he goes to the police and says,
I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I made
this awesome parachute. I need you to let me jump
(07:28):
off the Eiffel Tower. And of course they say, no,
you're crazy, that's not gonna work. Yeah, no, we can't
be held responsible. You know. It's like, do you think
those like fly guys get permission to to climb their
way up of buildings or like the dude the tight
rope walk between the twin towers. Now you're you're doing
a crime. And the reason is because liability. The people
(07:52):
can't be held responsible for for the insane daring do
of others. So this always involves some form of dress passing. Uh.
It's also why, you know, self experimentation is still highly
controversial and and I think considered pretty unethical, uh, in
in the medical field and in research. Yes, yeah, no,
I mean it's true. It's a debate that continues today.
(08:14):
And like many other people, I love that you mentioned
the fly guy, our boy Frands decides that maybe it's
better to play along, Maybe you should have asked forgiveness
rather than permission. But he badgers the police for an
entire calendar year, and they finally say, okay, you gotta
(08:37):
stop coming to the station. We will let you test
the parachute, so long as you use a dummy or
mannequin that's roughly human sized. You just can't have a
living person jump off the Eiffel Tower with your cockamami
parachute idea. And he says, yeah, absolutely, I get it.
(08:58):
You know, we are agreed on this. And so around
seven am on February four n he gets journalists, he
gets cameramen, he gets friends and family to watch him
leap from the Eiffel tower. That's right, him not a dummy. Everybody, literally,
(09:26):
everybody at the scene told him this was a terrible idea.
His friends, his family, journalists, a guy who's just working
security is saying, dude, don't jump, And he said he
had to. He said, I intend to prove the worth
of my invention. So one French paper of note La
(09:46):
Martine observed that reich Helps determination to jump caused ripples
of unease to to spread throughout the crowd. The papers said,
quote among the spectators only he seemed happy. Next morning
there everyone thought he would kill himself. Uh yeah, that's
definitely a jumper type situation. I wish you would step
(10:08):
back from that ledge, my friend. Please, you're making us
all really uncomfortable. You could cut ties with whatever, yes
if you agree. Yeah, that was a golden era of
overenunciation in rock singing. You know, it's like and if
you do see me ucky, I mean weird, absurd vowel
(10:32):
sounds really nonsensical, but yeah, I like I like Noel.
Noel has a great story. True A third eye blind Cossert,
which basically saved for a live show show Me Faces
Franz write, held is is yelling at the crowd from
the first deck of the Eiffel Tower. No, he's seriously.
(10:54):
Everybody is telling him this is a bad, bad idea,
and he says, you are going to see how I'm
not parachute will give your arguments the most decisive of
the wrong. I'm gonna do this right right. He's getting
heckled by people who will hope he is alive tomorrow
and he's not listening. About an hour and twenty two
(11:16):
minutes pass, so it's am He is stepping up onto
a small table by the edge of the platform and
he does this move. This so cinematic. He has a
newspaper and he rips part of the newspaper and let's
it fly. And he's watching the wind. He wants to
(11:37):
see the direction of the wind. Hesitates for a bit,
and the crowd is thinking, Okay, we talked him down.
He's not gonna do it, or he's going to use
a dummy. And he looks at the crowd. We don't
know exactly what his facial expression is, but he jumps.
He jumps wearing his parachute, and his parachute folds instantly
(11:58):
around him. He plummets down to the wrong direction, right
of course, of course, the wrong direction towards the craft.
But I mean the parachute deploys what incorrectly When you
say it folded around him, that just means it didn't
really deploy properly. It was like exact, did not catch
the air. Because again I keep coming back to the
(12:20):
image of Inspector Gadget, but it really was a thing
he used a lot. He had this rip cord. He'd
pull on his gray, you know, kind of iconic trench coat,
and then it would it look like he would either inflate,
which wouldn't make sense unless it was like, you know, airtight.
Presumably Inspector Gadget was some sort of hybrid robot man
um cyborg exactly, but I think it really was meant
(12:41):
to because also I would say that the design of
Inspector Gadget is based almost entirely on Inspector Clusseau from
the Pink Panther movies. That the same you know, Fedora,
even like he resembles him, like in the shape of
his nose and stuff. But I would not be surprised
if that was a nod to this guy, the Inspector
Gadget parachute coat. That's an interesting theory. And you know,
(13:04):
as an eagle scout, I always admired Inspector Gadget. That
dude was prepared. You know, he was walking the walk,
maybe in a silly way, but he was also a fool,
and he he needed his this little niece, Penny and
her dog to solve his crimes for him from behind
the scenes. Also love the Penny had this thing that
she called a computer book, which is now a tablet
(13:29):
like love Dr Claw. Uh, there is one canonical version
of claws actual face from an action figure. It was disappointing. No,
keep the mystery alive. Don't really don't don't know he'll
be disappointed. You're not gonna like it, alright, Well, uh,
(13:52):
I feel like I'm the crowd at the Eiffel Tower
and you are you looking for Dr Clau's face is
like trying to test out your parachute suits. I like it,
I like it. I don't like it. It's disappointed. He's
go kind of like a like a uh, what's his name?
What's that? Director? Jim jarmash kind of hair, he's got this,
(14:15):
he's got a scar and in his mouth. But I
always pictured him being an android too, or someone more
like Memra from from from ThunderCats. So I will say
based on the voice and based on the mystery, was better.
But I kind of I dig the I dig this design,
you know. I I maybe I'm being too hitchcocky and
(14:36):
maybe I'm saying the imagination is more terrifying than what's
seen on screen. But if you want to, if you
want to see a good reveal of an enigmatic villain,
check out check out Cobra Commander and in the animated
g I Joe film. Now that was a good reveal. Uh.
I also bet you this Dr Clauw action figure fetches
(14:58):
a pretty penny if you have an unopened one, because
it looks like the boxed version. The face is obscured
with like a sticker. It says, reveal the mysterious Doctor Claw.
I just have a feeling that one is not particularly common.
But let's see. Yeah. Well, one thing we won't find
(15:18):
is an action figure of our pal Frounds because it
would be in very poor taste. This is not an
action figure you want to create. You don't want the
army man aspect with a parachute because his parachute did
not work. Noble attempt. It was assured he was, as
a newspaper of the time wrote, two seconds after he
(15:41):
jumps in a pitiful wreck, he lay on the icy grass.
He fell almost standing. Blood trickled through his mouth, nose,
and ears. His right arm and leg were crushed, his
skull and back were broken. He died instantly. But don't worry, folks,
the story goes on. There are some more or brilliant
people who have died trying to fly. Now there's one
(16:04):
that we wanted. I was thinking we skip, but uh,
I had some insider info from our super producer Max. Uh. Max,
where where are we going with this? You've promised this
an Easter drag in the notes, So there's actually an
Easter dragon Scarram. It's in more Wind as well, but
um Scarum is the one that we're referencing too. So
(16:26):
you just kind of will be like running through the
wild of sky Roum and you can happen upon a
major who is like summoning a spell, and when you're
close on and he will shoot himself into the air.
You'll just hear him giggling and celebrating and screaming being like,
oh my god, that's amazing. I can fly. Kind of
like a version of that. Yes, I remember this, but
(16:46):
but but he reaches like the like, you know, the
peak of his ascent, and then you hear his tone
kind of change as he starts plummeting back down to
the ground. Two more of a scream, and then he
splashed on the ground and dies because he clearly had
finally figured out how to make himself fly, but he
had never figure out how to land. Yeah, that's a
(17:08):
big part of it, Like the landing a big part
of it. He really reminds me a lot of our
first guy, Ben, you jumped off the mosque. That seems
like a similar scenario in terms of that a moment,
you know. Yeah, everybody's gotten over their head in one
endeavor or another. Uh, this is uh, let's put on
our car stuff caps really quickly and fast forward to
(17:31):
the modern day. It's a guy named Henry Smolensky. Henry
Smolinsky is the type of dude who looks at a
Ford Pinto and thinks, why the hell isn't this already
a plane. I don't know if we've all been there,
but that's where that's where his head's at. Yeah, I
do feel as though it'd be cool if we were
(17:53):
in more of like a flying cars era of the future.
But also, let's just talk about the logistics of that
seems very unmanageable. I mean, think of all of the
personnel it takes just to keep flights commercial flights, you know,
in private planes from crashing into one another, and like
all of the you know, pomping circumstances around takeoff and landing,
all of that stuff. If people were just driving flying
(18:15):
cars everywhere, there'd be mid air collisions left to right.
It'd be a nightmare health game. And I hate to
say it, man, but I've I had a long standing,
long standing argument with my good pals Scott Benjamin on
the show car stuff about everything that floats, fly, swims
or drives, because Scott was very much against flying cars,
(18:39):
and I was, to be completely honest, I understood his
problems with the the idea. He's right, by the way,
and you're right, noal flying cars on mass or a
terrible idea. My position was, flying cars are awesome if
I'm the only one who has one, and it's like,
that's the only realistic way to think about flying can't
(19:00):
tell anybody. Don't tell anybody, because if people know that
you have. If people know that Ben has one, then
then everyone else to know. Well if I had one,
if I had one, you guys know how I am.
If I if I had one, then I would try
to get you guys each. I feel like the four
of us, Max and you KNOWL and me and you listening,
(19:20):
fellow ridiculous historian. I think it's already gone too far.
It's already got to who's next. Who's next? Well, that's
the thing. Humans have never been particularly gassed about settling
on anything. So as soon as the first cars are
rolling out, the first internal combustion vehicles or are rolling
out and there becoming a real thing. Instantly people look
(19:44):
at these amazing machines and say, why can't this fly? Uh?
The fancy name for it is a rotable aircraft. And
we know people have been working on this for a
while because the first patent for something like a flying
car comes about in nineteen eighteen by a guy who
(20:04):
I I put this name in here because I knew
we would all love it. No, this guy's real name
is Felix Longobardi, because of course it is. Why wouldn't
it be Felix Longobardi patented a vehicle with retractable wings
that also had propellers. It was sort of like a
like a like a like a C to air kind
(20:26):
of situation. So if you if you hit the water,
you'd have these propellers. It would allow you to carry on,
you know, moving. Is it more of a fail safe
bend or is it really meant to be a multi
terrain vehicle? Well? Uh, you know it never really wait
for it got off the ground. I think I think
(20:49):
in an ideal world it's a multi terrain vehicle. It's
it can be a boat if it needs to be.
It can be a car if it needs to be.
It can be a plane. It's a beautiful idea. It
just didn't work out quite as Felix wish. Uh. There
was another thing. A guy named Robert E. Fulton creates
the Airphibian. I love that name Airphibian. Uh. And this
(21:12):
this one makes it to the prototype stage. It gets
certified by a government organization, the Civil Aeronautics Administration. But again,
if you look through your local parking lot, you will
see that there are no Airphibians nestled there next to
your cameras and your God forbid Honda Honyssey's Can you
(21:35):
imagine a Honda Odyssey and the sky would be like
everyone see no, by the way, I'm not gonna say
anything else, no spoilers, but it's very cool movie. Uh
but can you imagine if if Honda Odyssey just kind
of came at you from the clouds dive bombs you
ban that one that's been stalking you low these many years. Well,
(21:56):
I'm not gonna I'm not thank you. Thank you guys
for that. Uh So we know each other too well, Yes,
you are correct, sir, But what what we're establishing here
is that by hook or by crook, so many people
have tried to make cars fly, and the vast majority
(22:18):
of these attempts have been unsuccessful. They haven't made it
to a U a full production phase. Right. It's it
would be weird for you to see a flying car
casually in the field. If you see something calling itself
a flying car erotable aircraft today, you're probably at a
(22:38):
special event. You're probably not stuck in traffic. But these
previous failures did not stop our guy, Henry Smolinsky, until
you know, it did stop him. He has some bota fides.
(22:59):
He was an aeronautical engineer out in California, and he
and his pal fellow college student Harold Blake, they had
both graduated from the Northrop Institute of Technology, their aeronautical engineers.
They started a company pretty recently nine it's called Advanced
Vehicle Engineers, and they make something called the A V
(23:21):
E MISAR M I Z A R. And this is
a this no kidding, please look at the picture if
you're able to pull this up on your browser choice.
They took a Ford Pinto, yes, the famous Ford Pinto,
and they smacked the back half and wings of a
(23:44):
small plane Assessma Skymaster onto it. So if you look
at it, it looks like a Ford Pinto that had
some video game friends. It looks like someone had some DLC,
some downloadable content. They did DLC thing to this Ford Pinto. U. Okay,
(24:08):
it looks weird. It looks like it cannot fly, but
they wanted it to, you know, fly. They would use
the car engine the aircraft engine to take off, which
would shorten the time it needed on the runway, and
then once you're in the air, you turn off the
car engine. And the ideas that it would have uh
(24:32):
wings supports that could extend you could tie down the
wings like any other aircraft, and if you wanted, how
inspector gadget is this, you could detach the Skymaster part.
You could get rid of the wings and the plane
engine and you could just drive your Ford pinto out. Yeah.
(24:52):
I like this in theory, but again in practice sort
of another story. People felt the same, at least in
terms of the excitement part. In nineteen seventy three, things
were going super well, first Leminski and a V E,
and by mid nineteen seventy three there were two prototypes
that he had built and three more were in development
and actually starting to be built. One prototype was slated
(25:13):
for uh display at a Van Nye h Ford dealership
owned by one of a V's partners, Bert Bochman. The
other prototype was fitted with a Teleedne Continental motors to
ten horsepower engine, and it was unveiled at a press
event on May eighth, nineteen seventy three, and both vehicles
for photographed by a very well known photographer belonging to
(25:36):
Peterson Publishing Group named Mike Brenner for hot Rod magazine.
This is a big deal, is making some waves. I
like how you see a hot Rod magazine too that
felt really cool. Uh. Yeah, they they're getting f a
a certification. They're doing flights to get this certification. Rather
and a partner with someone who will be well known
(26:00):
to any any gear head, any fellow car enthusiasts. An
automobile dealer named galpin Ford. Galpin Ford you might recognize. Uh,
they have a have a like a subsidiary, a customer
arm called galpin Auto Sports, which is the garage from
Pimp My Ride Shout Out exhibit. You know, he's the
(26:22):
guy who heard you like trunks, so puts the trunk
in your trunks so you have more trunk space in
your trunk anyway, Yeah, I'm more room for for for
for the sub subway first, Uh you go in the trunk. Also, man,
I'd say, what was it in We were somewhere maybe
it was Dallas. There there were a lot of hypercolor
(26:43):
kind of like uh, spinner really was very popular, like
those like kind of led spinner rims. It seemed like
there was like a whole gaggle of like you know,
ones running together and like cruise almost like like like
like the like the dirt bike and a TV gangs
that roam the streets of a Also those three wheeled
(27:03):
cars that are also very like Tron looking, and a
lot of those in Dallas too. Yeah, yeah, and they're fun.
I I have not bought one, I've driven around on one,
but they're they're pretty fun. I just don't know if
they're a daily driver because they don't have a time.
They're not. They'd be like go kart prices. Now they're
(27:24):
street legal, questionably so, but yeah, they're like it's as
much as like a sedan, A little bit of a
flex for sure. And here's how popular the Here's how
popular Smlinsky's vehicle was. It was going to be featured
in a James Bond film, The Man with the Golden
Gun four and that same year was featured. It was
(27:49):
going to hit dealerships and if you wanted to buy
one of these Ford Pinto Cessna's, it's if you wanted
to buy this, you would pay about eighteen thousand, three
hundred dollars for the bottom of the barrel, all the
way up to twenty nine thousand dollars with all the
bells and whistles. At this point, it is time for
(28:10):
our inflation calculator. We got some boops, we've got some beeps.
Keep a boo boo, boop bee doop wonderful. That is
our inflation calculator. Eighteen thousand, three hundred dollars in nineteen
(28:30):
seventy four is about one hundred and eight thousand, one
hundred and seventy three dollars and seventy four cents today.
I don't want to sound like a cheap skate, but
I think that's a lot for a car. I have
a question. I mean, I don't know, I'm gonna ask
a question, and I think no one in the history
of question asking has ever asked why does there have
(28:51):
to be inflation? Why can't things just stay the same? Man?
Is it about population increase and demand on resources and whatnot?
Just because capitalism is a Ponzi scheme that will ultimately
collapse on itself. These are good questions. Yeah, yeah, it's
sort of like why, you know, like companies have to
show year over year growth or else. You know, like
(29:16):
there comes a point where how is that even possible?
And you know, I mean it is. They they'll make
it possible, or they'll do it with like creative accounting um.
But it's just it does seem like a like a
losing proposition at the end of the day unless you're
in podcasting. Okay, yeah, we we gotta show growth. To man,
the boss will be looking at those numbers. Not jeez,
(29:37):
not jeez. Uh. Well, at least we're not selling Honda
Odyssey's So everything is everything is perfect for Smolinsky and co.
Right now, it's nineteen seventy three. Nineteen seventy four is
gonna be a big year. Everybody's excited. They're doing the
test flights. Stuff is looking pretty legit until late August
(29:59):
ninet seventy three there's a pilot named Charles Genie, and
Charles says, okay, I'm on this test flight and right
wing strut attachment has disconnected. The wing is unsupported. It's
just flapping around like the ario knots of old. You
know that the flappity flappity leads to the splattit e splattity.
(30:23):
So he says, I can't turn this with the flappity wing.
You guys need to look at this. This is a
serious design problem. So Spellisky and Blake look at it.
They do take this seriously. They fixed the strut and
they give it a once over. They take it out
again just a few weeks later, and respect to them
(30:44):
because they didn't want to endanger anybody else's life. They
did to your earlier point self experimentation. Unfortunately, they were
not able to fully fix the issue. The support failed
once again. Wind Smolinsky himself as the islet tried to
make a turn that right wing crumpled, the whole agglomeration
(31:05):
of the Pinto and the Cessna crashed. Both men died.
These are just a few of the people, not only
inventors who died due to their own inventions, but just
a few of the people who died trying to fly.
So every time you are on an airplane, and one
of us is going to be on an airplane very soon,
(31:26):
every time you're on an airplane, thank those people. Thank
you for that. Wait, I was like, is it, Oh yeah, Max,
vacationero phobia. Hey, speaking of landing, I'll send you this
Instagram video that'll that'll put your your fears at ease.
I saw the most remarkable, just absolute bork landing of
(31:48):
a commercial flight on Instagram. It's like the thing it's
just coming in at this absurd angle and it hits.
It doesn't explode, it just flips over and skids upside down.
To a stop. I don't think anyone died, but like,
what what terror? Can you imagine the terror? Why did
you tell me that? Also because we want to help
(32:09):
you confront your aerophobia, manas I even guys, I fly
in Alaska out to Seattle even strong the extra fifty
six bucks to get business class. Business class. It's like
previous Yeah, comfort plus it's like, I mean, I'm six
ft tall, um like pounds. I'm gonna give you an
(32:30):
ish there. So I clearly don't fit in most planes.
So I got that extra four inches. So I was
gonna be all it's it's I was gonna enjoy it.
But now I'm just to be thinking about the plane
nose diving and like you know, cartwheeling down down the runways.
For me, I fly all the time. The landing is
always that's when things could go south. I like to
sit in the very front or in the very back
(32:52):
because I like the I like the bump. You know,
if I'm if I'm already paying for a ticket and
I fly probably too much, honestly. But if i'm if
I'm paying for the ticket, then give me a little
roller coaster at the end. You know what I'm saying
what is life? I always gripped the seat in front
of me just a little bit every time, and uh,
they haven't haven't had a flipper yet. So you'll be fine, Max,
(33:15):
You'll be fine. The odds are in your favor as
little as you fly, Max, get a windows seat. Get
a windows okay, hell, get the emergency exit seat. That
the one that's the one with the most leg room,
you know, yeah it is. Also it's the one with
the most power and responsibility. I always try to fly
and exit seat windows style. You lose a little windows.
(33:38):
Sometimes you might just get the porthole. But those people
depend on you, and it's cool to be a hero.
Maybe am I a little too proactive and a little
too enthusiastic when the flight attendant asked me for that
verbal yes? Maybe I should just say yes instead of hell. Yeah.
These are questions, and they're fair questions. I was my
(33:59):
own kind of hero on a flight recently, Ben, there
was a particularly obnoxious child who was sitting next to me,
and I had the window seat, and her mother was
seated next to her in the middle, and then the
child and then this is one of these children, there's
just like I want the thing that I can't have me,
which was the windows seats. I gave her my window seat,
(34:21):
and the mother was so appreciative, and the flight attendant
heard me do it and rewarded me with sky miles.
But mainly, I mainly just didn't want to hear that
kid yowling the whole trip, so it was sort of
a self serving. But I think in some small way
I did a service for everyone on that plane. I
will take that. I will take those accolades, Yeah I did.
(34:42):
I'm fine with aisle seat. I like either aisle seat
or of course, window seat. But I'll see it's good
because you can get up anytime. You don't have to
worry about bugging. I'm also yeah, I mean, I'm not.
I'm not, I'm not six. I don't need a window
seat anymore. It's fun. I don't mind it. But I
think I prefer the aisle seat except getting your elbows back.
I like the windows. Planes are amazing. A lot of
(35:04):
people died so that we could witness, uh and participate
in this fascinating technology. Window seats forever. Uh. And you guys,
you know, I'll wave to you and when you're over
on the aisle seat, and I respect you and Max.
We didn't want this stand on a bad note, and
aerophobia is a real thing. Uh, So for you, my friend,
(35:26):
we wanted to wrap today's show with a couple of
hopefully reassuring facts. You are way safer. You are way
safer taking a flight to Seattle than you are taking
a road trip. Uh And there are numerous reasons why
we pulled some National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data back
(35:49):
in uh Let's say the numbers were roughly the same
before COVID. There were thirty two thousand more than thirty
two thousand fatal car accidents that led to over thirty
five thousand deaths. That means that there were people who
were not involved with the cars who died. They weren't driving,
(36:12):
they weren't necessarily passengers, they died. Uh. And this means
that there were one point one three fatalities per one
hundred million vehicle miles traveled. That's eleven people for every
one thousand US residents. Cars are not subject to the
same scrutiny, the same maintenance, the same rigorous regulation as planes.
(36:37):
So dude, you are whether you're in the aisle seat
or the window seat, nobody wants the middle seat whether
whatever seat you're in, Uh, you are way safer than
you would be on a road trip, even if you
were with me and Mill, which would be epic. We
should do a road trip, Oh, I'd love to. Speaking
of Earl Pala Scott Benjamin, we did a incredible road
trip years ago, actually a road rally, like a scavenger hunt,
(37:01):
all across the these United States, and it was a delay. Um. Yeah,
we should make that happen again very soon. But in
the meantime, I think it's time to put an end
to this. Uh, this two parter proactively proactive two yes, yes,
that is correct. Uh. And we hope that you have
enjoyed this as as much as we did. Folks. Again,
(37:23):
every death is a tragedy, but these brave pioneers of
the sky have fundamentally changed the way that people interact
with their environment. And we hope you tune in for
future iterations of this. Let us know, uh, let us
know your tales of inventors who have died by their
(37:45):
own hands, such as there's a fun fact I throw
in because I don't know whether this belongs in a
in a full episode, but uh Noel Max did you gout.
You guys know the Denver Airport, right, there's that big
nightmarish stalion statue. The guy who made that died as
a result of that statute. What do you mean as
a result? How did he die? Who did this to him?
(38:08):
It fell on him? Oh my god, that's awful. There's
also an insane mural at Denver Airport this guy, like
the the weird gas masks kind of Gestapo figure, swinging
a giant saber across a like a rainbow of like
indigenous people carrying dead babies. It's very strange. Didn't they
move some of that or they got rid of some
(38:29):
of it? I don't know. It was always very controversial
and there were even, like you know, all kinds of
conspiracies scrolling around the Denver for this is news to me.
This just happened in two thousand six. The sculptor was
killed when part of the blue Mustang statue fell on him, unfortunately,
severed an artery in his leg. I thought, you said,
(38:51):
we working in it's on a bummer, Ben. That's a
total bummer, right, right you are. We don't want to
be a bummer. Because he liked the aviation pioneers, in
this series. Uh, he did leave a legacy, and it's
important to remember that history is closer than it may
(39:11):
appear in the rear view. There we go. Oh my gosh,
my car stuff is coming out. We got to end
the show. At least he didn't sever an artery in
his legacy. Am I right? The show already, I'm gonna start.
I'm gonna start ripping off people's names and thank you. Alright, alright, thanks, thanks,
thanks Max, thanks for the check in. Also thanks to
our super producer Max. Thanks to Alex Williams composed the track. Yeah,
(39:38):
Jonathan Streetlin, Alright, alright, we're out, We're out, everybody, We'll
see someone. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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