Simplex, instead of posting alaskan nutter dribble I'd suggest you read two texts.
"Sir George Cayley's Aeronautics 1796 - 1855" by C.H. Gibbs-Smith.
published by HMSO in 1962.
"Kill Devil Hill, the epic of the wright brothers 1899-1909" by Harry B. Combs with Martin Caidin.
published by Secker and Warburg, London. 1980.
both texts are exceptionally well researched.
btw Harry Combs was the president of Gates Learjet.