Much that is said about the achievements of Curtiss vis a vis the Wright brothers is clouded by the ill feeling and rumour mongering engendered by their long patent law suit (which the Wrights won, later merging their company with that of Curtiss).
Each camp has its loyal followers and there are even those who seriously maintain that others, such as Augustus Herring or Gustave Whitehead, flew first. An internet search will reveal plenty of far fetched claims by fans of various late C19 inventors who, unlike the Wright Brothers, left no documentary or photographic evidence of systematic experimentation and ultimate success.
I think that the Wrights deserve the credit for solving the problem of flight. They were the first to devise a solution to the problem of lateral control, the first to build a practical aircraft engine, and the first to demonstrate sustained manoeuvres in flight. It is true that their very earliest powered machines needed an assist to depart (not their later ones from, if I recall correctly, about 1907-8, which took off unaided), but they flew under their own power and in control before anyone else. The more their claims to primacy are investigated, the better they stand up. I'm not knocking Curtiss, who was a great pioneer, but the boys from Dayton did the deed first.
[ 15 January 2002: Message edited by: FNG ]</p>