sycamore,
Unfortunately, your patriotic understanding is incorrect. This is due to the renowned and respected historical revisionist, James Burke.
The S/VTOL invention to which you refer was actually patented by a Polish chap in May of the previous year. It was called the Maypole. It was developed for multiple simultaneous takeoff and landings, but the arresting wires tended to get braided. Three months later an august polish dynamist revised and re-patented the concept. It was thereafter called the Augustpole.
