The Rambling Boy: Stories About Texas is a weekly look at regional history, hosted by Lonn Taylor of Fort Davis. Taylor was a writer and historian who moved to the Big Bend after retiring from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. in 2002.
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Jacob Brodbeck and Early Texas Aviation
Deep in his collection of historic documents, collector Marty Davis finds a receipt paid to one Jacob Brodbeck. The receipt is for a quarter-share in the profits of an airship patent, designed by Brodbeck, and is dated August 15th, 1865 -- 38 years before Orville and Wilbur made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk. On this episode of Rambling Boy, Lonn Taylor tells the story of Brodbeck -- a German immigrant, amateur inventor, and potentially, the father of Texas aviation.