100 years of Flight
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Oshkosh, WI
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The world anxiously awaits the posting of a full reference, 18 Wheeler, as you seem to have stumbled on a crucial piece of evidence, previously unknown to aviation historians.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Scotland
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Surely what matters more than who was first is whose activities did more to change the world as we know it. It isn't disputed that the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk on 17/12/1903 (or at least I dont think it is) and then went on to demonstrate sustained, controlled flight to a large number of people. Pearse, Preston Watson, Whitehead etc may well have been first but what influence did they actually have on the world - absolutely none to my mind since it was long after their supposed flights that people started claiming the first flight for them and by then the work of the Wrights had been developed by others to create the foundations for the aviation industry we have today.
We should be celebrating the first significant flight of a powered aircraft. Or with my glider pilot's hat on we should be remembering with sorrow the day the Wrights gave up a promising career in gliding and invented the glider tug:-)
grow45
We should be celebrating the first significant flight of a powered aircraft. Or with my glider pilot's hat on we should be remembering with sorrow the day the Wrights gave up a promising career in gliding and invented the glider tug:-)
grow45
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grow45, I am in 100% agreement with you except I give no credence to the notion that a powered flight of any sort was made any of the people you mention.
The most interesting of all the "flew before the Wrights" claims from around the world (I have delved as far as I can into 9 of them) is Karl Jatho in the late summer & early fall of 1903. It seems reasonably certain that he achieved a series of short (but increasingly long) hops, the longest of which was about 60 meters. The question of how much control he had or whether this constitutes a sustained powered flight is one that we can talk about all day.
But, back to grow45's point, even if he did fly it had basically zero effect on the course of human history - whereas we can look at every airplane that flies today and see the direct influence of the Wright Brothers in it. If anyone gave the gift of flight to the world, it was the Wrights.
The most interesting of all the "flew before the Wrights" claims from around the world (I have delved as far as I can into 9 of them) is Karl Jatho in the late summer & early fall of 1903. It seems reasonably certain that he achieved a series of short (but increasingly long) hops, the longest of which was about 60 meters. The question of how much control he had or whether this constitutes a sustained powered flight is one that we can talk about all day.
But, back to grow45's point, even if he did fly it had basically zero effect on the course of human history - whereas we can look at every airplane that flies today and see the direct influence of the Wright Brothers in it. If anyone gave the gift of flight to the world, it was the Wrights.
Last edited by I have control; 13th Dec 2003 at 01:52.
