I find Simplex 1's point of view almost identical with that of Gabriel Voisin himself who voiced a lot of doubt on the Wrights' claims.
My copy of "Men Women and 10,000 Kites" is not to hand at present but he did devote an entire chapter in that to denigrating the Wright's "fraud".
I don't subscribe to all of his opinions by a long chalk and feel that the Wrights should have their fair recognition on contributing to aviation development.
The fact that this , in the view of many , had been vastly overblown, supported by the revelation of a structured campaign at American national level, beyond the Smithsonian ( see "History by Contract" q.v. ), is unfortunate and has resulted in a degree of polarization that is understandable, including this wonderfully Gallic riposte by G.V:
“The first balloon… Montgolfier. The first of all dirigible balloons… Charles Renard. The first aeroplane… l’Etoile designed and built by Clément Ader. The first aeroplane officially observed… a Voisin piloted by Henry Farman. Finally the first…to journey from one point to another…also a Voisin. Aeronautics, then, is truly a French science.”
P.S. Noted by Simplex 1 "one conclusion was that the roll control should be maintained automatically while the surfaces responsible of pitch and yaw have to be handled by the pilot." i.e. the reasoned European approach to roll control, direct 3 axis control having been around as an option since the mid 1860's.
P.P.S. Note that the ailerons in the photo above are both pointing in the same direction and that the foreplane "rudder" i.e. elevator appears to be absent. Possible combined elevator and aileron- elevons in 1906 ?
Last edited by Haraka; 8th Jun 2014 at 08:27.