I'm sorry if it comes across like that, redmist. I don't think that I've ever positively asserted that Mr P didn't ever fly, although frankly I'm enormously sceptical as to the contention that he did. The evidence as to when he flew, if he flew at all, seems sketchy to say the least. My real point, however is: "so what if he did fly?" As for the point about witness evidence, it is that having to rely mainly or entirely on the recollections of individuals as to what they may or may not have seen years before is a slender basis for any case. The Wrights' case is not thus based.
As I understand it, the basic story goes something like this. One day, bloke on his own says, “I think I’ll invent an aeroplane”. So, he does, and flies it a bit. A few people stand idly by watching him do this. Bloke thinks “Well, that was fun, but solving this problem which has obsessed mankind for millennia is not a big deal. Certainly no point writing about it, taking photos or anything. Think I’ll pack it in now and go and invent mobile phones, styrofoam cups, or warp drive, or something”. Many years later, bloke says “I didn’t invent the aeroplane”, but this doesn’t count, because, tragically, he is by now a loony. Various other people say “oh yes, I recall idly standing about and seeing him flying about a bit in this really cool aeroplane, er.....quite a while ago....I know this is right because I distinctly recall the Air Traffic Controller telling him to enter the hold until that squadron of flying pigs had cleared the runway".
Meanwhile, at about the same time as “quite a while ago”, two other blokes, well-read bicycle mechanics, read up on all the work done on flying through the previous century, exchange ideas and info with people who’ve thought about it a lot, systematically research wings and engines, do quite a bit of gliding, sort out an engine, then put it all together. They have been keeping records. They manage some short flights in December 1903. Again, they keep records. They carry on working, and record keeping, and, by the time that they’ve taken their machine to France a few years later, it is so good that even the French have to admit that these boys have done the business. Again, it’s all recorded.
So, weighing up the evidence, it’s possible that Mr P flew, and maybe, just maybe, he flew before the Wrights. No one can be sure. As for the Wrights, however, there is no reasonable basis for doubting that they did what they did and when they did it. From their early work there evolved an industry making aeroplanes. The world (after some debate) acknowledges them as the fathers of powered flight. Is the world really so wrong?
Last edited by FNG; 24th Jan 2003 at 07:51.