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60 Minutes highlights Birds, achievements Posted: Friday, Oct 05, 2007 - 09:47:43 am PDT By DAVID KEYES Staff writer
Be prepared for a lesson in history, medical and humanity Sunday night on 60 Minutes. Sandpoint's Dr. Forrest Bird is featured in a story that was shot in May in and around Forrest and Pam Bird's home on Glengary Bay.Correspondent Morley Safer spent two days interviewing the Birds as well as several people who were saved by Bird's respirators. 60 Minutes airs locally at 7 p.m. on KREM-2, the Spokane CBS television affiliate.
Riddle received a phone call Wednesday night from one of the 60 Minutes producers she befriended in May. The story is previewed on 60minutes.com. In the online preview, Safer compares Forrest Bird to Forrest Gump because of all of the famous people each person has met. Bird met Henry Ford when he was 13 and Ford was visiting his first dealership in Stoughton, Mass. Ford wasn't happy to learn the 13-year-old was taking apart old Model Ts and making tractors from the parts to aid local farmers. Bird also met Orville Wright and called the encounter with the much older Wright the biggest thrill of his life. He also flew with Howard Hughes. Hughes was intrigued by Bird's piloting prowess. Bird also met Gen. George Patton. On May 6, 1937, Bird was piloting a private plane in New Jersey and nearly bumped into the Hindenburg several hours before the German-made dirigible blew up. While Dr. Bird's aerial exploits would be enough to gather media attention, it was his invention of a reliable respirator and the "Baby Bird" respirator that has put him in the history books. Bird says his love and understanding of aeronautics is the reason he understands how the human body's heart and lungs work and led him to develop respirators credited with saving many lives around the world. Bird has received nearly every accolade bestowed to inventors or aviators. He is a member of the: Inventors Hall of Fame, the Living Legends of Aviation and has a Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award from the American Respiratory Care Foundation. At 86, he continues to work long hours in his lab and continues to fly airplanes. Bird is an unabashed American patriot who has never collected a paycheck from the American government for his military service, but also is very respectful of the citizens of other countries. When his business was located in California, Bird would display the flag of whomever he was working with at the time. Those flags now are hanging in the museum. Bird also invites top medical minds to his business, Percussionaire. He also lectures around the world. On July 7, the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center opened on the Bird property. This free museum has been a popular attraction and features many of Bird's inventions as well as models of the Hubble Space Telescope. COMING SUNDAY: Bee Publisher David Keyes spent an afternoon with 60 Minutes Correspondent Morley Safer. Janet O'Brien wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:49 PM: " I was surprised and thrilled to see Dr. Bird on 60 Minutes. In the mid '70s, I was privileged to visit his compound with an aquaintance of his. Dr. Bird was a most impressive man, a gracious host. I was awed by the beauty of his home and teaching facilities in the compound situated on that gorgeous lake, and was highly impressed by his own fire truck :) Dr. Bird has certainly accomplished more than many of the rest of us combined and we are ever grateful to him for all the lives he has saved. " Patrick Fenner wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:43 PM: " Mr. Bird is truly an amazing man , would love to have preasure to meet him someday . What an inspiration to all !Thanks so much for all you have done for mankind Mr. Bird . " Robert Mounce wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:43 PM: " I watched the 60 minutes presentation this evening and was so thankful that they spent their airtime on such a unique and interesting person as Forrest. Also glad to have him in northern Idaho, one of few authentic places left. The flight sscenes were great. Thank you " Robert Mounce wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:42 PM: " I watched the 60 minutes presentation this evening and was so thankful that theyh spent their airtime on such a unique and interesting person as Forrest. Also glad to have him in northern Idaho, one of few authentic pllaces left. The flight sscenes were great. Thank you " POST YOUR OPINION
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Bonner County Daily Bee
P.O. Box 159 / Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 / 208-263-9534
Bonner County Daily Bee Online is updated at 10am PST.
Donna Thompson, Fallbrook, CA wrote on Oct 7, 2007 9:08 PM: