The Scientific American, in its Jan. 25, 1908 edition, credits
the Wright Brothers, A. M. Herring and Gustave Whitehead as producing the first successful heavier-than-air flying machines despite the fact that only claims made by the three inventors existed that time and no credible witness, beyond any doubt. Articles like this, written in apparently serious publications, spread the myths of Herring, Whitehead and the Wright brothers as the first aviators.
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In view of the above-mentioned facts, while giving to M. Farman the credit for first publicly demonstrating that it is possible to fly in all directions, both with, against, and across a light wind, we nevertheless wish to recall to the aeronautical world the fact that to America belongs the credit of producing the first successful motor-driven aeroplane, and that to such men as the Wright brothers, A. M. Herring, and Gustave Whitehead — men who under the tutelage of Lilienthal and Chanute, have begun with gliding flight and gradually worked their way forward to the production of a self propelled aeroplane in all its details, including the gasoline motor — belongs the real credit of having produced the first successful heavier-than-air flying machines."
Source: "The Farman Aeroplane Wins the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize.", Scientific American, pag. 54, Jan. 25, 1908,
https://archive.org/stream/scientifi...ge/n0/mode/1up