I find it amazing that Jane's All the World Aircraft (the bible of aviation history) could issue its (accurate) findings that Gustave Whitehead of CT was inventor of the first successful airplane
I was actually amazed that Janes published that LOL,however it is probably down to just one of their editors - and think how good that controversial headline would be for sales
Anybody who believes that No 21 or 22 (can never remember which !) actually flew for 7 miles is extremely naive
I could not sum it up better than The Aviation Historian...
Sorry if it looks a little disjointed but it is a direct copy from a magazine page and i have not amended it ---and of course does not include the mentioned photos...
Enter Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft. If you are still with me, then congratulations; and I expect you are asking why on earth TAH is devoting several pages to the highly questionable theory that Mr Brown is promoting.
The sole reason is that, extraordinarily, Paul Jackson, the editor of the Development & Production component of Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft (JAWA) — that long-established bible of aviation reference (albeit not aviation history reference) — chose, in March this year, in the foreword to its milestone 100th edition, to place his reputation and that of Jane’s on the line by (a) summarising Brown’s research, (b) describing it as “meticulous”, and (c) accepting it as fact, concluding with the snappy slogan “The Wrights were right, but Whitehead was ahead”. This endorsement of bad pseudo history in a normally highly-respected aviation publication simply must not, in TAH’s view, be allowed to go unchallenged.
In fairness to Mr Jackson, we all make mistakes. I speak from experience, as an aviation-history journalist and editor of 30 years’ standing. Sometimes, those of us who write or edit will end up committing those mistakes (through error or misjudgment) to print, where they squat indelibly
upon the page forever. From this unassailable position they glare at us balefully, making us squirm every time they catch our mind’s eye.
This usually makes us very keen indeed to avoid making further such mistakes.