GUEST EDITORIAL By JOHN BECK
Who was the first person to fly?
Was it that snappy dresser from Brazil, Alberto Santos Dumont? His countrymen fervently think so. His first flight was Oct. 23, 1906. It was recognized by Brazilians and by the French and other Europeans to truly be the first controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. It had the ability to take off from the ground without any catapult assistance and it was witnessed in public by a large crowd and the scientific community.
Or was it Gustave Whitehead in Fairfield, Connecticut, on Aug. 14, 1901? Eyewitnesses signed depositions years later attesting to that statement. Modern replicas of Whitehead’s aircraft have been successfully flown.
When the Wright Brothers flew in the United States in front of people — the press in particular — they asked that no photographs be taken. They were very secretive because they were afraid that others would steal their designs or technical features of the aircraft. Between 1903 and 1906 they still didn’t have an approved or accepted patent, which was a factor in their secrecy. Their patent (#821,393) was granted May 22,1906 — three years after they first flew. Then in 1908 they were awarded a $25,000 government contract from the U.S. War Department. They went to Paris May 29, 1908, and finally demonstrated the aircraft in front of a very large crowd.
Interestingly, a contract was made between the estate of the Wright brothers and the Smithsonian Institution to display the Wright Flyer at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., which stated that if it is proven that anyone else had flown first, the Wright Flyer would be taken back.Read more…
===> Posted on April 27, 2010 by Janice Wood. No comments. © GAN 2010
Who was really the first to fly? is a post from: Small Jet Charter
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