December 10, 2011

Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center

My next stop was the Wright Cycle company. The visitor center at that site is wonderful. It is filled with great exhibits including a grocery store. Here I am, chatting up a kind lady. There is also more stories about how the Wright's got their start. I love this quote from Orville:
Wilbur and Orville started their careers as printers and operated their second print shop, outside the home, in this building. In this location, the Wrights edited and published newspapers for the West Side patrons.

The Dayton Tattler, written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, was also printed at this location. Dunbar was a famous poet who is known for his colorful language and use of dialect. There was a section of the upstairs dedicated to the life of Dunbar.There is also a small parachuting museum which I found really interesting. I got to sit in an ejection seat! In the corner of the room was the story of Joseph Kittinger who set many world records. Here is his story: In 1960 he climbed to an altitude of 102,800 ft. The ascent took one hour and 31 minutes. He stayed at peak altitude for 12 minutes, waiting for the balloon to drift over the landing target area. He then stepped out of the gondola to begin his descent.

The small stabilizer parachute deployed successfully and Kittinger fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, setting a still-standing world record for the longest parachute free-fall. At an altitude of 17,500 ft, Kittinger opened his main parachute and landed safely in the New Mexico desert. The whole descent took 13 minutes and 45 seconds and set the current world record for the highest parachute jump. During the descent, Kittinger experienced temperatures as low as −94 °F. In the free-fall stage, he reached a top speed of 614 mph. Insane!

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