Watch Kids From 1962 Try to Build a Flying Bicycle
What kid hasn’t wanted to make their bicycle fly?
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What kid hasn’t wanted to make their bicycle fly? (Especially after watching E.T.) Thankfully for their parents, most do not succeed. But these teenagers from 1962 took on the challenge to create a person-powered plane. In this clip, you see the young engineers putting the contraption together, plus get a taste of what The Kid Should See This aptly calls “old-timey narration.”
The final plane had a wingspan of 80 feet and weighed about 100 pounds. The poor pilot had to pedal fast enough to get it off the ground, which was no easy task. This is just a clip from a longer documentary about the challenge that you can purchase here.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Rock, Pedal and Roll: Band Tours the World by Bicycle
The List: Tour de Smithsonian—Historic Bicycles Worthy of Display
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