Remember the Wright Brothers and Orville’s connection to Georgian Bay?
Less well known are their experiences in England, France, Germany and Japan.
We learn, from close scrutiny, that England did little with the Wright Brothers. France welcomed them, as did Germany. Japan and Russia wanted Wright Flyers as well.
When we tell stories we recount it in different ways each time we tell it…it is the way time and memory work.
News is in the telling of the story and the shape it takes. It may serve a number of purposes. Bear this in mind as you lift your Club and Maul to read the latest “news.”
I mentioned the Wright Brothers in Germany. I bought a book on the “History” of the Wright Brothers. No mention of what they did in Germany or Japan, yet purports to be a “History”?
Omission may be worse than error. The book was more fanciful than truthful.
We have to ask ourselves why certain “truths” take priority and other “truths” take a backseat?
In the telling of any story are mixtures of facts, supposition and wishful thinking in a volatile mix.
In closing, I submit a photo of the chief pilot of the Wright works and his co-pilot in a Wright aircraft on the first flight from Berlin to St. Petersburg, 1912.
Two wars and many conflicts have come between these fellows and they are largely forgotten.
Their names were Wsewolod Abramowitch and Karl Hackstetter.
Abramowitch was chief pilot of the Wright Works, Germany and the grandson of Mendele Mocher Sforim, the grandfather of Yiddish literature.
Karl Hackstetter was co-pilot and author’s grandfather.
After 1914, the stories changed with no good news from Germany. More stories for a later date.
René Hackstetter, September 28, 2021.
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