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Collection: Videos > Documentaries

Video: The Gilmore Brothers' Airship (1931) (5 minutes)


This silent film reel from Pathe News, possibly from 1931, is about the Gilmore brothers and their airship. The footage shows the brothers opening their dusty hangar to reveal an old aircraft they built years ago. They examine the plane, showing its decayed bat-like cloth wings, turning the propeller, and testing support struts. One brother brushes dust off the fuselage and wings. The plane appears untouched for over 20 years. The brothers display design blueprints and an old photograph of the plane. They climb into the fuselage of the old aircraft, that may or may not have ever flown. The footage seems to coincide with when the brothers first made their claim about achieving the first controlled flight, years before the Wright Brothers. Finally they posed for the newsreel camera. The original film reel is held at Searls Historical Library.
Author: Pathé News
Published: 1931
Digital Copy Held At:

The Gilmore Brothers' Airship (1931) - Gilmore's Hanger
The Gilmore Brothers' Airship (1931) - Gilomore's Design Plans
The Gilmore Brothers' Airship (1931) - The Gilmore Brothers
The Gilmore Brothers' Airship (1931) - The Gilmore Brothers - Airship
Full Transcript of the Video:

This is a silent movie.