He was not satisfied with his results, hence he did not make the claim nor was he interested in doing so.
You can twist it any way you like, but a flight like he did well before the Wrights is unarguably sustained controlled flight. It took the Wrights over a year to match anything like what he did.
As for people recalling things years later, it was in the local newspaper a day or so later. Somewhat more recently than 'years'.
He was also noted as saying when he first saw news of the Wright brother's flight that he had achieved the task before them, but was not really interested in who was first.
It was only many year later he was reported as changing his mind. Compared to the aeroplanes of the mid 20's, his Monoplane must have seemed near-imossible to fly.
Never the less, it did, and for quite a distance many times over a couple of years.
Last edited by 18-Wheeler; 4th Dec 2003 at 13:56.