I do not think that monuments, photo ops, license plates and museums can really be considered as proof of a fact. I doubt there are any monuments to or museums about George Cayley and other pioneers at the Royal Aeronautical Society in USA. Does this mean that their work did not happen?!
There are monuments and exhibits concerning Clement Ader in France and many French people are as convinced that their Local Hero was the "First" as Americans with the Wrights and New Zealanders with Pearse. Others favour Maxim, as his plane clearly "wanted" to fly but was held down. Farman and others have loyal supporters too, plus monuments/museum exhibits and all the other ephemera associated with any local hero.
I believe that the evidence for many early flights would be unlikely to pass modern standards (for instance the Guiness Book of Records) and there is enough discrepancy, vagueness, partisanship and litigation that I personally do not really like to single out a single "First".