Viewpoint Alabama recently featured an interview with Julie Williams, author of Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama. Host Neal Vickers expressed his pleasant surprise on learning from Julie’s book that the Wright brothers had a “deep-rooted history in Montgomery.”
Wings of Opportunity recounts the history of the nation’s first civilian flight school, founded by the Wrights in Montgomery in 1910. Author Williams chronicles the short life of this flight school as seen mainly though the eyes of the Alabama press.
Williams, who was born on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, explained to Vickers her personal interest in the Wrights, formed during her childhood spent near Wright historical sites. She recounted how publication of her book has allowed her to meet people with their own Wright connections, such as an 80-year-old man who remembers his college professor talk about loaning the Wrights a car so they could travel from downtown Montgomery out to the field where their flying school was located. Williams pointed out that stories about the Wrights “were handed down through the generations,” according to many of her contacts, so important was contact with the brothers thought to be for family history.
The interview also highlighted the role of the press in covering the flight school, as Williams explained that very few people understood anything about airplanes, and as the Wrights were not very forthcoming in dealing with the press, reporters were left to their own resources to create stories.
Host Vickers concluded the conversation with the remark, “I have been told you are a masterful storyteller, and I have to agree.”
Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama is available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online retailer