And, it does so happen that every major aviation triumph was american. Anyone care to offer another opinion?
Yes, my opinion is that this is the most blinkered, nationalist and wildly untrue statement I have ever read on PPRuNe !
Have to agree
joy ride. The cousins do have a tendency to beat their chests and proclaim, "We are the greatest", never mind the contributions made by others. The Collier trophy is an American award made only to Americans. The Wrights were not an all American endeavour, in as much they corresponded world wide to other experimenters in order to crystallise their thought on how to proceed. The P-51 would not have existed without the British, and it's famed cooling system was the direct result of research by one British engineer by the name of F. W. Meredith. Also used on the Spitfire, so the P-51 was not the "first" to use the system to reduce cooling drag. The Meredith effect led to research by the Americans on the aero-thermodynamic duct, or ramjet due to the similarity of their principles of operation. Advances are due to international cooperation. As Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants".