PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - The Wright brothers just glided in 1903. They flew in 1908.
Old 21st Jun 2014, 20:58
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longer ron
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
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There is always another side to the coin

In connection with Junius Harworth's claim that he saw Whitehead fly one and one-half miles at an altitude of 200 feet on August 14, 1901, the following facts are relevant. Harworth is collaborating with a certain Washington journalist in preparing a book, the aim of which is to prove that Whitehead flew before the Wright brothers. Harworth is under contract to receive ten per cent or the profits of the projected book. His testimony, therefore, is not disinterested.

Furthermore, Harworth's elder brother, Nicholas Horvath, who operates a drug-store in Bridgeport, asserts that he never once heard his younger brother mention the alleged one and one-half mile flight or the seven mile flight. It was news to him that Whitehead had made such flights. In fact, it was news to everyone of Whitehead's old neighbors and former helpers who still live in the vicinity of Pine Street. Even Louis Darvarich, who was Whitehead's first partner in flying experiments in Pittsburgh in 1899, and who accompanied Whitehead to Bridgeport and lived near him for several years, had never heard of the alleged one and one-half mile flight or the seven mile flight. "
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