Original Documents: What Really Happened, Part II. How the Wrights' Tall Tales Came to Light

 How the Wrights' Tall Tales Came to Light.

"Falsity is so easy, truth so difficult."--George Eliot
in "Adam Bede"

Headlines of the Virginian Pilot article printed on December 18, 1903. The story was "scooped" by 19 year old reporter Harry Moore

Reporter Harry Moore in his later years and a photo of him as young  man.

This blog is dedicated to finding the truth about what really happened in aviation history, as far as is possible. Rather than relying on the words of the Wright brothers, we have taken a new approach by exploring other documents and witness statements. We feel that it's important that all the great aviation explorers receive their proper places in history and that we expose false claims of biased individuals, or those who would benefit from publishing misinformation.

The previous post establishes how documents we are posting came into the hands of Steve Fritts, an aviation enthusiast and collector of historical newspapers. This post will show how the documents relate to the Wrights erroneous statements about what happened the day they claimed they made the first four "flights" in history. We will also begin to tell the story of how the documents came to be written in the first place.

 The Wrights began experimenting with gliders with the intention of making powered flights from 1900 through 1903. Their idea wasn't at all new. Aviation pioneers such as Lilienthal, Herring, and Montgomery, had intended to attach engines to their gliders and achieve powered flights. In fact, Herring did and flew about 73 feet. Gustave Whitehead was witnessed and reported making powered flights at least two years before the Wrights in 1901.

Photograph of a Wright glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, by Octave Chanute.

 The Wrights established a camp at Kill Devil Hills a few miles from Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.where the wind could lift their gliders, gravity could help pull them forward, and the sand could cushion their falls.

The Outer Banks was sparsely populated. Much as in any small town, it didn't take long before the news got around about these "crazy" guys who were trying to fly. One day in 1903, a young reporter by the name of Harry Moore happened to overhear some Life Savers talking about the Wrights in Norfolk, Virginia.They had gone there to to buy a barrel of oysters for the pair. Moore's interest was piqued.  He had a nose for news.  He befriended the Life Savers, who seemed to know all about the Wrights' experiments, and made them promise to let him know right away if the Wrights managed to make a powered flight.
                    
We know from the Wright letters that, according to their calculations, they were concerned whether they had enough thrust to fly with their little 12 horsepower engine. With changes, the machine kept getting heavier.

Their friend Octave Chanute, who was an engineer and an expert in aviation, visited them at Kill Devil Hills that fall. Before he left, he told them that their engine wasn't powerful enough to lift their plane because it would lose too much energy from the chain drag to the propellers. The Wrights averred they did an experiment and proved him wrong.

The Wright Flyer on its track on the big Kill Devil Hill, 1903.  Here the Wrights used the assistance of gravity to take off because their 12 hp engine wasn't strong enough. Note that the "Flyer " had no wheels, which was an advantage in the sand, but wheels weren't added for years because the Wrights later had to rely on a catapult to take off.

They attached their 12 horsepower engine to their "Wright Flyer I" in preparation for what they thought would be the first powered, manned, heavier than air flight in history. On December 14 1903, we are told that they tried and failed in their first attempt to make a powered flight, launching from the track on the hill.

But on December 17 at 10:35 a.m., we are told by Wright historians that Orville succeeded in making a 12 second hop of 120 feet  "from level ground." The wind was recorded at 27 mph.Wright historians call Orville's hop the first manned powered controlled heavier than air flight in history. Was it a flight or a glide?

 What happened immediately before and after Orville's claimed flight is now open to question. There are at least two different stories, the one told by the Wright brothers and the one that is revealed.from the primary source documents that reporter Harry Moore's daughter preserved for years.

The Wrights say they made three more flights that morning from 10:35 until noon. Their story can be read in a telegram they sent their father the Bishop that afternoon. They claim it was sent after the last flight by Wilbur and that it is the only telegram that was sent. Later, they sent out a news release that was supposed to back up what the telegram said.

  

 Success four flights thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas

These words have been accepted as gospel for over a hundred years

But it's important that we reexamine the statements of the Wrights in this telegram, because it establishes whether they were truthful or not right from the beginning. We need to prove the veracity of their claims, because their stories then and later had to be based on their honesty or lack of it. These are valid questions. The Wrights were very secretive about what they did from 1903 until 1908--five long years. Much of all we really have is their words about what happened. Moreover they made long testimonies in court under oath in their large numbers of lawsuits that claimed infringement of their patents and primacy in flight.

Unfortunately for the Wrights' tales and their historians claims, our primary source documents and witness statements do not support the Wrights' statements about what happened that day--before, during, and after Orville's hop of 120 feet at 10:35 am. On the Wrights' side, we only have their claims in their own words and some photographs with questionable anomalies they claimed documented their flights. What's more, Wright historians won't accept the statements of the actual eye witnesses, because the witnesses say that all of the flight attempts were made from the hill, not level ground.
           

What we believe happened immediately before and after the 10:35 claim, our primary source documents and witness statements can establish as follows:.

The Life Savers were true to their word to Harry Moore--to let him know right away if there was a powered flight. Directly after Orville's 10:35 powered "hop" on the day of December 17, the Life Savers, Willie Dough and John Daniels walked the quarter of a mile to the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving station, where there was a telephone. From there they contacted Joe Dosher, the telegraph operator at Kitty Hawk to send a telegram to Moore, who was in Norfolk, Virginia.

There was a telephone at the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station, above. Two Life Savers hiked the quarter of a mile to this station right after Orville's "flight" and telephoned Joe Dosher who had a telegraph at the Kitty Hawk Station. Dosher telegraphed a message to reporter Harry Moore that Orville Wright had flown.

The telegram was received in Norfolk a little after 11:00 am by the telegraph operator named C. C. Grant, who was manning the line for the usual operator. Grant walked the telegram over to the home of Harry Moore and hand delivered it to him by about 11:40.  

Below is a copy of a letter written and signed by Grant, the telegraph operator in Norfolk, Virginia, who received the wire addressed to Harry Moore. It is an affidavit--a primary source document signed personally by the writer. This valuable document confirms what happened the morning of December 17, 1903, in at least two points. First of all, it proves that more than one telegram was sent that day--and this one was sent in the morning. To phone the telegram in, the Life Savers had to leave the camp--and the Wrights needed the help of all the Life Savers there to launch their "flyer." Therefore, the Wrights could hardly have made four flights that morning. Confirming this, C. C. Grant states right in the letter that the Life Savers said, "the Wrights made a short flight this morning and will try again this afternoon."

This valuable document resides right now in a safety deposit box, together with others that back up Moore's story.It essentially proves that the Wrights did not make four flights the morning of  December 17, '03, as they claimed in a telegram to their Bishop father. Permission to use this document was granted to truthinaviationhistory by its owner Steve Fritts.

  Norfolk Va., April 11, 1929

            I was bureau telegrapher at the Norfolk weather bureau, located on the top floor of the Citizens Bank of Norfolk, on December 17, 1903.
           Shortly after 11 a. m., a message came through on our wire government owned and controlled, from Kitty Hawk N.C.
            It was addressed to Harry P. Moore and it was signed Dough and Daniels. It stated that the "Wrights made a short flight this morning and will try again this afternoon."
             I delivered the message in person to Mr Moore at his home190 Charlotte street, opposite the Norfolk Academy. It was about 11.40 when I arrived.

                                                                    Very Truly

                                                                    C.C. Grant
For Mr Harry Moore or
any others who may be
Concerned

After reporter Harry Moore received the telegram from the Life Savers about 11:40 am, he immediately called up the Life Savers on the phone. The Life Savers were there at their Kill Devil Hills station, (not helping the Wrights launch three more flights).

To quote Moore:

I got in touch with one of the Life Savers by telephone, and he told me that 'at last the nuts had flown. One of those fellows flew just like a bird. The two of them put gasoline in the engine in their contraption and after it glided down a hill on a wooden track, it went up. It was Orville that flew and he came down safely.--Harry P. Moore, reporter *

Moore contacted the Norfolk Virginian Pilot newspaper with this big story. According to a "Virginia Living" article, "After collecting what facts he could from Norfolk by telephone, Moore rushed to the Pilot news room and gave the Kitty Hawk news to editorial personnel Keville Glennan, Frank S. Wing, and C. G. Kizer, the last head of the news department." The reaction was mixed. According to a later letter from Kizer recounting the newsroom’s reaction, Glennan, the city editor, thought it was “just another glider flight” and tossed Moore’s story into the wastebasket. But other newsmen backed up Moore. And meanwhile, more news was coming from other telegraph reports being sent. (Wright historians claim that only one wire was sent, the one from the Wrights to their father the Bishop at the end of the day. But even another telegram was apparently sent that morning by the Wrights to their sister Katherine. It was forwarded by Alpheus Drinkwater.)
.
Eventually the paper decided to print the story (headline at the start of this blog)  It was Harry
Moore's "big story," but as time went on, other newsmen, including Keville Glennan, decided that the story was so important, they wanted to take credit for it. It is this controversy about who was responsible for the newspaper account that prompted C. C. Grant, telegrapher, and others to write letters to set the story straight. If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have these documents, and we might never have known what really happened the morning of December 17, 1903.

Below is a letter we have by editor Kizer. This story backs up Harry Moore's claim but also helps to back up the letter by telegrapher C. C. Grant. It was Henry Moore's intuition and his scoop that made the front page of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot in one of the most famous news stories of the era.**

Letter written by newsman C. G. Kizer, to back up reporter Harry Moore's story. Permission to publish this document was granted to truthinaviationhistory by owner Steve Fritts.

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* For a timeline and a more complete story, please see blog post "{Pieces of the Wright Puzzle. What Really Happened December 17, 1903)  (http://truthinaviationhistory.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-01-28T18:23:00-08:00&max-results=5)

**Transcript of Kizer's letter:
Norfolk    Lynchburg VA. Mar11 1929
Mr. Harry P. Moore'Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk, Va.

Dear Harry-
                Here I am in Lynchburg, wife's home town. I'm killing two birds with one stone, conducting a hearing of a labor dispute and paying my respects to the Wabes--my wife's folks-
at the same time.
             I wanted to write to you from Richmond to thank you for your letter to Byrd in my behalf. He told me about it and was much impressed with the things you told him. I hope I can live up to the nice things you said about me.
                It was largely through friendship, such as yours, that I made the grade and received another appointment.
                Don't you let anything Glennan has to say worry you in the least. You know him of old. He waits 25 years to claim credit for himself and Dean for the hard and excellent work you did [on] the Wright flight story.
                You know I was in charge of the news department at the time and I discussed with Foote the city editor and Glennan at two 'o clock in the afternoon your story on Wrights first flight  on December 17, 1903.***
                 At the time Glennan said he thought the story was just another glider flight. I told him to keep in touch with you and if you felt it was true it was good enough for me.
                 It was largely at my urging that he pulled the story out of the waste basket, under his desk, at night, touched it up to suit his own whim and sent it back to the composing room. I told him to put it on the front page.
                 Of all the mean tricks he has pulled, this is one of his meanest.   Mr. Grandy had little faith in him and he told me if I could not keep him in line to get rid of him.
                  Again, thanking you for all your efforts in my behalf I am,
                                   Sincerely your friend
                                        C. S. Kizer

*** The Wright brothers didn't walk the four miles to Kitty Hawk, so they claimed, to send the famous telegram to their father until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Obviously, according to Kizer, Moore had already written and submitted his story to the Virginian-Pilot by then.
       This corroborates that the Virginian Pilot didn't get their story from the telegraphers leaking the news from the telegram the Wrights sent their father after 2:00 p.m. This is what the Wrights and their historians claim, but the truth is, the Life Savers, the telegraphers, and Harry Moore never told the Wrights the real story in order to protect each other and their sources.

 To be continued.
       

Original Documents. What Really Happened at Kill Devil Hills December 17, 1903

Harry Moore, reporter, who "scooped" the December 17, 1903, Wright story when he was nineteen years old.

Readers, I am publishing some original primary documents on this blog in order to get the information out to the public right now

I will continue with the story of the Wright Flyer wings shortly.

David McCullough, a reputable historian, has just published a book called The Wright Brothers. He has admitted that he knew nothing about the subject matter when he started, and that he relied on Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, for his research.

Tom Crouch has a highly biased agenda. He is a publicized defender of the contract that the Smithsonian signed with the Wright family whereby the Smithsonian must support that the Wright brothers were the first to fly -- or they may lose the "Wright Flyer" on display there to the Wright family.  

The documents I am publishing over a short time period will open to question many of the published statements of the Wright brothers about the events of December 17, 1903, when they claimed they were the first to make a manned, powered, controlled, sustained flight from level ground with their engine power alone.

For an explanation of the provenance of these documents,  I am first publishing in full, the statement that owner, Steve Fritts, made to me and in following posts, the documents he shared with me. Steve is  a collector of old documents, and was given these papers by the daughter of Harry Moore, the reporter, who "scooped" the Wright story on December 17, 1903. Documents will be published here that support Harry Moore's statements. 

Note that Tom Crouch knows of the existence of these documents, but has not made their contents available to the public or, apparently, to such historians as David McCullough.

 I might add and I will repeat that Harry Moore and the Life Savers didn't know that a flight made from a hill can not be considered a  powered, sustained flight

On 1/12/2015 7:27 AM, Steve Fritts wrote to  me:

Marcia,

Here is the story of how I obtained the first flight story.  I am not related to Harrry P. Moore and only know them through my research and curiosity into how the Virginian-Pilot newspaper got the story.

I live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

The handwritten rough draft of the story of the Wright Brothers' first flight was published in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper December 18 1903 and was written by Harry P. Moore, who was a young cub reporter  trying to break in full time with the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.  He had been keeping up with the Wright Brothers’ glider experiments in 1903 and made friends with coastguardsmen Dough and Daniels, who promised him they would tell him he would be the first person to know if a successful flight was made. 

No other reporter knew about the flight until he received word the morning of December 17 from Dough and Daniels through Norfolk telegraph operator C.C. Grant.   

Moore was also a freelance correspondent for several out-of town newspapers and sent his story of the first heavier than air flight.  Some published it the next day, some two days later, and others did not believe it and so did not publish the story at all. 

The first few lead paragraphs of the story were written by editor and writer Keville Glennan they are not included in the handwritten story.

I obtained the first flight story in 1989 from Eleanor Harnly, the daughter of Harry P. Moore, who was the cub reporter who wrote the story.

As a collector of historical newspapers and also an employee of the FAA, I was working on an airport project at Elizabeth City, NC which is about an hour from Norfolk.  I placed a want ad in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper asking if anyone had a copy of the original Wright Brothers newspaper to sell (there are none in existence as far as I know).

Ms. Harnly just happened to be looking at the want ads that day and saw my tiny little ad in the Norfolk Virginian-PIlot newspaper.  She called me and invited me to her home.  She could not find the old newspaper that she thought she had, but instead gave me all of the memorabilia of the first flight, including a letter from Orville Wright, letters from the newsmen who were there when they were debating whether or not to publish the story, a letter from C.C. Grant, the Norfolk telegraph operator who passed the news from Kitty Hawk to Harry P. Moore, and the handwritten first flight story itself.  I have photos of me and my wife when we met her and her husband.

Tom Crouch at the Smithsonian was very interested in all of this and found it "fascinating." when I sent copies of it to him years ago.  This is the story that Henry Ford wanted to purchase for his collection (he offered $1200.00 back in 1930).

Steve Fritts / Dunwoody, Georgia 

For more about this story, please see "The Big Story":  http://www.virginialiving.com/virginiana/history/the-big-story/#next

To be continued... 

Mystery of the Wright Flyer Wings Part II

""Inconsistencies,' answered Imlac, 'cannot both be right, but imputed to man they may both be true.'"--Rasselus

"...I have found that silent truth cannot withstand error aided by continued propaganda."--Orville Wright: "Why the 1903 Wright Airplane Is Sent to a British Museum"

Glenn Curtiss flying in the AEA "June Bug" July 4, 1908, at Hammondsport, New York

1908 was the year that man's ability to fly exploded into the world's consciousness--like fireworks; and it was on the 4th of July that our own Glenn Hammond Curtiss made the first pre-announced public flight in the United States.  Glenn's amazing demonstration was in front of officials and a large crowd and convinced many, I'm told, that he was the very first to fly. Although most Americans now believe that manned, powered flight had been achieved four and a half years before on December 17, 1903, the year the Wright brothers claimed they flew from level ground in North Carolina, their claim is in dispute because of later statements by the eye witnesses and others. Evidence keeps mounting, as emphasized before in this blog, that instead of taking off from level ground with their engine power alone, the Wrights had used the gravity of Kill Devil Hill to launch against a strong headwind. This is what a glider does, and their plane essentially was a glider--under- powered with a 12 horsepower engine that was driving two propellers. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) would never have certified this as a viable, heavier than air, manned, powered flight. Please see "Is It a Flight or Isn't It?" Click here and scroll down.

It would be accurate to say that the ability to make a manned, heavier than air, powered flight was demonstrated before a large public in the year 1906 by Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont, who had official witnesses in France--and that the real surge in powered flying took off in the following years. European pioneers, such as Farman, and Delagrange were flying in planes designed by the Voisons in 1907. Bleriot was experimenting with various designs, such as tandem wings, and by 1909, his tractor monoplane that flew across the English Channel looked much like many of our planes today. In May of 1908 the Wright Brothers were spotted off the ground by reporters at Kill Devil Hills and photographed at a distance. The 1905 plane that we are told they used at Kill Devil Hills that May was soon crashed and destroyed there by Wilbur.

 None of the witnesses who say they saw the Wrights in the air before 1908 were qualified to judge if they were seeing viable flights except, perhaps, Octave Chanute in 1904. But what Chanute saw in 1904 was the Flyer II catapulted into the air where it managed to stay for only 24 seconds before it crashed--out of control. See his statement. As in the case of their 1903 attempts, the FAI would/could not have certified this as a viable powered flight, either. The Wrights also claimed their witnesses later observed them flying 24 miles in 1905, but the length of that flight is unofficial and unproven.

No secrecy here. Glenn Curtiss (foreground, sixth from right, white shirt, tie, and hat), the June Bug, and some of the many observers of the first preannounced public flight in America, July, 1908.  Photo from the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.

 Glenn Curtiss's July 4 demonstration won the Scientific American prize for making a controlled flight of over a kilometer. His plane was called the "June Bug" by Alexander Graham Bell, who had mentored the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), of which Curtiss was a member. Their avowed purpose was to get off the ground and flying--and they succeeded in a matter of months. This is because the information needed by them was made available to all by pioneer researchers, such as Samuel Langley, who had gone before. Please see various posts in this blog, e. g., "The Wrights Discovered What"? It was there for the taking to those who did their investigations, and the AEA did just that. Despite what the Wrights said, who jealously guarded what they called their "secret of flight," the AEA didn't/couldn't have stolen from them their information. How could they have stolen their use of the aileron when the Wrights didn't even think of it or specifically describe it in their 1906 patent, let alone invent it?* The AEA planes' conformation was basically patterned after Chanute's biplane gliders, as was the Wrights,' and the AEA 40 hp V8 engine was Glenn Curtiss's own--light in weight and amply powered.

The Wrights didn't formally debut in public until August, 1908. In fact, the Wrights would not have been able to compete for the prize Curtiss won, because one of the requirements was to take off from level ground with wheels and engine power alone. The Wrights plane took off with skids, not wheels, using their catapult. Wright proponents like to say that they could have used wheels, they just didn't want to! Strangely, with so many already flying in Europe by 1908, the Wrights claimed they "taught the world to fly." Please see "The Wright Brothers 'Hijacked History' " (Click here and scroll down.)

1908 was the year the Wrights at last flew in public, Wilbur in France in August and Orville at Fort Meyer, Virginia, in September. Both broke records.** But Orville soon crashed at Fort Meyer, killing a passenger, Lieutenant Selfridge, one of the AEA members who had helped them research their way into the air. Orville sustained injuries that haunted him the rest of his life. Both Wrights had used catapults to get off the ground in 1908--except in May at Kill Devil Hills, we assume, where they had plenty of hills and a headwind to assist them at take off. But it's documented in their 1908 letters to each other that they both were having multiple problems with their engines before their debuts; and that observation raises the tantalizing question, were their own early engines dependable and powerful enough to get them off the ground and to stay reliably in the air? All indications are that they were not.See Library of Congress  (LOC) letters. But that is a different blog post.

At issue now is whether the original artifacts, the 1903 "Flyer I" they claimed was the first to fly, and the 1905 "Flyer" III they say they used at Kill Devil Hills in 1908 were really preserved and reconstructed for the public to see, and if those are on display now, as they're advertised to be.

We are told that the pieces of the plane, smashed by the wind in 1903, were shipped back to Dayton, Ohio, and stored there, until Orville unpacked them and put them together in 1916. That tale is absolutely not backed by witnesses, except for Mabel Beck, who was Orville Wright's loyal secretary and who faithfully supported him in everything he said. (But wait. Charlie Taylor, the Wrights' mechanic stated that he helped unpack the old plane in 1916 and put it together. A statement by eyewitness John Daniels for Colliers magazine seems nearer the complete truth. Eyewitness Daniels stated that they crated up the plane in 1903 and shipped it back--except for pieces that were given as souvenirs. So despite Beck and Taylor, we have strong support for Etheridge's statement that he received the wings and more as he said. (See blog, "More Mystery..," ) This "Flyer" is now supposed to be on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space  Museum. The crashed 1905/8 "Flyer," used by both Orville and Wilbur at Kill Devil Hills in 1908 is the plane claimed to be reconstructed and at Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio. But it can't be.

Due to the wonders of the internet, evidence has been found that the claims.based on Orville Wright's statements, that these are the original planes, can not be supported. So what really happened to the early Wright "Flyers" must be stitched together from statements of witnesses and other original/primary documents.. See the  previous post, "Mystery of the Wright Flyer Wings, Part I."

Adam Dough Etheridge, eye witness in 1903. His statements are discredited by Wright  historians because they contradict the Wright brothers' stories.

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According to eye witness Adam Etheridge, the wings of the 1903 plane and more weren't shipped to Dayton, Ohio, by the Wrights when they departed Kitty Hawk. Instead, they gave him the wings of that broken  plane and probably/possibly most of what was left of the plane itself, (except for the engine and hardware). Maybe they didn't went to pay the freight. He took the parts to his home on the beach and stored them there. Subsequently, Wilbur informed a man "from Philadelphia" that Etheridge had the old plane, and the man contacted him about buying it. There is absolutely no reason to doubt Etheridge's story except for the fact that it contradicts Orville Wright's.

(Interesting that in order to support the Wright stories, Wright historians discredit the witnesses of other aviation pioneers, such as the many who observed the flights of Gustave Whitehead, but need to discredit their own key witnesses. as well.)

Etheridge took up the man's offer, sold the old plane for 25.00, and shipped it to Elizabeth City, from where it could be shipped on to his customer. Much later, Etheridge regretted that decision, because he realized, he said, that he might have made a fortune.***

The story of the 1903 Wright Flyer wings continues with letters that were made public after the death of Orville Wright and are now digitized on the LOC Wright brothers site. Reading these letters and researching the net, we find that the man who purchased the plane was a gentleman named Zenas Crane, who had made a fortune manufacturing paper. Crane had started a museum in Pittsfield, Massachusets, called the Berkshire Museum, and hoped to rebuild the plane for display there. The available letters fully back up Etheridge's statement except for one thing. Which plane he sold to Crane.

The Berkshire Museum today. The founder, Zenas Crane, purchased a Wright "Flyer."

After his purchase, we discover from the letters that Zenas Crane began a correspondence with Orville Wright to enlist his help. He wanted to reconstruct the plane accurately, and he also needed parts that were missing. We don't have these first letters. His son in law, Samuel Colt, continued the correspondence in 1914. At this point we can begin our study of the tale with the digitized primary documents of the letters that were exchanged. Because the first correspondence is obviously missing, we have to read between the lines and logically surmise some eliminated truth of the matter. As we believe and have reiterated, we can't and don't rely on Orville or even Wilbur as the primary references to be trusted. Their statements always need to be backed by supporting references.

We discover that Crane and his son in law, Samuel Colt, believe that the museum has in its possession the 1905 Flyer that Wilbur crashed in 1908, not the 1903 "Flyer" that Etheridge says he sold to him. We have to guess why and when Crane was told that and by whom--by Wilbur or by Orville after Wilbur's death? By claiming The Berkshire Museum had bought the 1905 "Flyer" and that he had the original 1903 "Flyer" I they had shipped to Dayton, Orville could use that tale to his great advantage.****

Obviously, the sale of the plane to Crane by Etheridge would have had to be made after 1908 for Crane to believe he had the 1905/8 plane. But there is another way we might pinpoint the date of the sale even more closely.

From the letters, we find that Crane also bought a glider for 25.00. Note in subsequent letters that Samuel Colt indicates he doesn't know which glider it is, but he believes it's the one Orville flew at Kill Devil Hills in 1911. Since Wilbur arranged the sale and died in 1912, we may fairly,safely conclude that Etheridge sold the 1903 plane he was given about the same time Crane bought the glider--between 1911 and 1912. The glider Crane bought that year was likely not the 1902 glider that was left at the camp at Kill Devil Hills. See post "More Mystery of the Wright Flyer Wings."

The plot thickens. On March 7, 1910, (we have to assume before the transaction with the Berkshire Museum), the Smithsonian wrote the Wrights, that they were creating a display and would like to exhibit one of the Wright machines or a model of one. Wilbur wrote back and queried which plane they would like. He stated that most of the parts of the 1903 plane were still in existence and that they could reconstruct it.  Link to the Library of Congress letter.  It would seem that he believed that he could recover the parts of the plane from Etheridge --or build another to stand in.The Smithsonian didn't respond with the enthusiasm the Wrights expected at their offer of the 1903 artifact; in fact, in answer to Wilbur's query, which one(?), they asked for a model of the 1908 plane that was flown at Fort Meyer. This is the plane that crashed and killed Lt. Selfridge. Granted, this was insensitive of the Smithsonian. Later statements by Orville indicate they were highly offended, even embittered that the Smithsonian wasn't particularly interested in the 1903 Flyer. It would be the next year we figure that the plane was sold by Etheridge to the Pittsfield Museum. Was it Wilbur's idea to arrange this sale to "get even" by allowing another museum to display the "Flyer" I? And he, of course, died before he could help put it together?

Now let's take a look at one of the first letters (LOC) we can find that son in law Samuel Colt writes to Orville for Zenas Crane, the owner of the Berkshire Museum at Pittsfield. Remember that by now, Wilbur Wright has died of typhoid. Also, keep in mind that Crane has been told he has the 1905 "Flyer" that was crashed in 1908.  As usual, it is frustrating that some of this correspondence doesn't seem to exist any longer. Note also that Colt writes to Orville as if he and Wilbur are one and the same.

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The following letter dated March 2, 1914 is Orville's answer. It begs the question, why does he have to ask Colt what parts of the Flyer he has at the museum?

*The aileron was patented by Matthew Boulton in 1868. Wright historians claim that although many pioneer aviators employed the aileron before the Wright's wing warping apparatus, none of them used it for lateral, or roll control, or used it in conjunction with the rudder. See "Air and Space". This is not true. A prime example is Montgomery's glider equipped with ailerons, which publicly demonstrated in 1905 complete lateral or roll control in conjunction with a rudder large enough to serve the use the Wrights claimed was theirs and their alone. See "The Wrights Invented What? Lateral Control and John Montgomery" in this blog.

** Wilbur's skillful flying in France convinced many that he and Orville were first to fly. According to a Smithsonian website, "Over the next several weeks he made headlines around the world with one stunning flight after another—demonstrating once and for all that the Wrights’ claim to priority in the invention of the airplane was true (there had been skeptics), and that their airplanes were capable of tight turns and a degree of control impossible with other machines." This is, of course, fuzzy thinking and faulty logic. A non sequitur. One can't conclude that demonstrations of flying that impressed the French in 1908 proves that  the Wrights were first to fly five years earlier in 1903.

***  It's ironic that the Islanders (except for one) made no money from the work they did for the Wrights at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.The Wrights profited immensely. What the Islanders did, they did for nothing, except for one man, Dan Tate, who quit because he could make more there by fishing. The Wrights were notoriously tight with money, but at the same time, the Life Savers were extremely underpaid for the work they did for a living. So when you read about the Wrights bragging how little it cost them to build and "fly" their machine, it must be realized that the Wrights begrudged paying for their help, with the exception of some gifts at the end of the season that might have cost more to send back to Dayton than they were willing to pay.

 ****Orville Wright sent the claimed artifact of the 1903 plane to the Science Museum in London in order to essentially extort a statement from the Smithsonian that implied that a plane built prior to the Wrights'--the Langley aerodrome of 1903 was incapable of flight.

To be continued. (For the continuation of this story, please see "More Mystery of the Wright Flyer Wings--Continued."

The Mystery of the Wright Flyer Wings, Part I

                                                                 "...the wings of that plane they left with me and I took them over to my home on the beach" - Adam Etheridge, eye witness to the claimed first manned flights December 17, 1903

             "'Tis strange - but true; for truth is always
               Stranger than fiction; if it could be told....,
            

              --Lord Byron 

___________________________________________________________________________________

The Claim of the Smithsonian Institution:

 The Wright flyer, displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, is the very plane that was the "first to fly" on December 17, 1903. According to its label, required by the Wright family estate, the plane is:

"The original Wright Brothers aeroplane the world's first power-driven, heavier-than-air machine in which man made free, controlled and sustained flight invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright and flown by them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina December 17, 1903."

Peter Jakab, curator, seated by the "Flyer display at the Smithsonian. Photo from the National Air and Space Museum,  http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/multimedia/detail.cfm?id=3292

Says Peter Jakab, pictured above, curator at the NASM, Smithsonian:

"Let me assure you, the airplane on view at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is indeed the actual machine with which the Wrights made their pathbreaking first flights at Kitty Hawk.  IT IS THE REAL WRIGHT FLYER....." (Emphasis is Jakab's)

But that isn't quite true. In fact, it's probably not true at all. The pieces and parts of the "reconstruction/replica," that comprise the plane on display at the Smithsonian have some different stories to tell. Peering beneath the varnish and veneer of the USA's premier scientific establishment, we find that the assurance of Peter Jakab is based on history far from sure.

What I will present in this post and those following may appear so astounding that it can't possibly be factual, after what we have been told for so long. Nevertheless, what I will present is backed by facts and statements of witnesses and needs to be viewed dispassionately. Not only do eye witness statements put into question the "genuine Flyer" on exhibit at the Smithsonian, but the "genuine Flyer III" on exhibit in Dayton, Ohio. What the historians tell us about both exhibits is mostly based on the word of Orville Wright.

 Before we take a peer at an alternate history, we need to look at a short summary of the provenance of the Wright Flyer I, according to the currently accepted history-- Orville's history.

Orville Wright's Story

After the wind smashed the Wright Flyer I to pieces in 1903 following the last "flight," the Wright brothers packed them up, shipped them back to Dayton, Ohio, and stored them in crates behind their bicycle shop. The crates were subsequently moved a couple of times more and even inundated with water and mud in the Dayton flood of 1913. Then around 1916, according to Orville, these pieces were uncrated, cleaned up, repaired, and assembled for display. This "Wright Flyer I" (with some caveats) emerged like a phoenix at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"The Wright Flyer I," supposedly the original, repaired and on display at MIT in 1916

After that, it was displayed a number of times more, according to the University Libraries, Wright State University:

 It was again briefly exhibited at the New York Aero Show in 1917. In 1921, it was partially reassembled yet again to provide photographic evidence for a lawsuit against Orville Wright filed by the surviving family of John  J. Montgomery, a California glider builder. The historic airplane was exhibited at the 1924 National Air races held in Dayton.

Finally, refurbished again, it was sent, not to the Smithsonian that wanted it, but abroad to the Science Museum in London, England. (This was because the Smithsonian Museum refused to state an untruth--that the Langley Aerodrome of 1903 was incapable of flight.--ed)  But in 1942, Secretary Abbot of the Smithsonian caved in to pressure from Orville Wright and the public and made a statement to the effect that the Langley plane had some modifications when it flew in 1914 that Orville claimed he'd found out.*

Subsequently, the plane that had been displayed in Britain was sent back to the USA in 1948 and displayed at the Smithsonian, according to the last wishes of the now deceased Orville.This is, as we say, the currently accepted history.

In 1948 the supposed Wright Flyer is sent from Britain to the Smithsonian.

At right, the supposed original "Wright Flyer," upon its return from the British Museum with much fanfare to the Smithsonian museum.

But there is another provenance of the 1903 "Wright Flyer I" that is more probable, weighing in the doubts we have revealed in this blog about the veracity of Orville Wright. A study of statements of witnesses and a number of other original documents strongly support the theory that if any parts of the original Wright Flyer made it, in fact, to the Smithsonian Museum in 1948 and are what you see on display there, they might be a piece of hardware or two. Much of what the public is told by the label, Peter Jakab, and various historians is likely the glossy veneer crafted by Orville Wright himself to cover another of his magnificent concoctions.

As can be seen in the National  Air and Space Museum diagram below, the Wright Flyer had mainly wings, elevators in front, rudders behind, no significant fuselage, a motor and two propellers. There were also wood struts, wires, and some hardware, including a chain drive. Not to forget the fabric covering.

Among these parts, the probable provenance of the wings, which comprise the largest portion of the Wright Flyer is the most fascinating. (Remember that the Flyer had no fuselage--the pilots lay face down on the lower wing.) The journey of the wings of the original Wright Flyer I, according to a credible eyewitness account, was not back to Dayton, where they were stored in the crate behind the bicycle shop. True, the  Wrights apparently shipped the engine back, just as historians say, but, according to witness, Adam Etheridge, they didn't pack up everything. The Wrights gave the wings to him.

The Story of Adam Etheridge

.Below is the story of Adam Etheridge, Life Saver and eye witness, ( from files of the US Coast Guard)

'We assisted in every way and I hauled the lumber for the camp,' said witness Adam Etheridge. He was one of the five witnesses of the Wrights' attempts at powered flight on December 17, 1903.  'We really helped around there hauling timber and carrying mail out to them each day.  It would come from Kitty Hawk by patrol each night.  In pretty weather we would be out there while they were gliding, watching them.  Then after they began to assemble the machine in the house, they would let us in and we began to become interested in carrying the mail just to look on and see what they were doing.  They did not mind us at all because they knew where we were from and know (sic) us.  We inquired what day they expected to fly.  Finally they told us the day.  Finally, on this day, the 17th of December, Daniels, Dough and myself were out there helping to get the machine out of the camp out on the track.  They started the motor, testing it out for quite a while.  Finally, they got to talking about getting together about flying and got it ready to turn loose.  Finally, they decided to try the flight and then they went on just about the way you have been told by Daniels.  They talked matters over---how delighted they were in what they had done in their flights and were expecting to try it---the machine---over and they gave up right then an packed up and went home.  They said they were very well satisfied with what they had done.  At that time they assembled everything they wanted to take away.  They said they were going to take the engine back with them and the wings of the plane they left with me.  Later I got a letter from a man in Philadelphia telling that Wilbur had written and told him that I had the old plane and that he wanted to buy it if I would dispose of it; so I wrote him a letter that I would sell it to him for $25.00.  He sent me a check for it, and it is right here that I lost a fortune if I had kept it.'

Again in 1935, Etheridge states that the Wrights left the wings of the flyer with him. In fact, in both statements Etheridge interchanges wings and the plane as the same thing. Note that he says,"Wilbur had written and told him that I had the old plane."** In the article below, he repeats it:

In 1935 Etheridge made a cryptic claim regarding the Wrights' first powered aircraft.  '[The Wright Brothers] said they were well satisfied with what they had done.  That was about the end of the story at that time. At that time they assembled everything they wanted to take away.  They said they were going to take the engine back with them.  At that time I think they gave Daniels and myself a lot of fixtures out of the camp and gave us the camp too.  And the wings of that plane they left with me and I took them over to my home on the beach and later, sometime after that, I got a letter from a man in Philadelphia telling that Wilbur had written and told him that I had the old plane and that he wanted to buy it if I would dispose of it.  It was up to me if I wanted to let him have it or not.  So I wrote him a letter that I would sell it to him for $25.00, I believe it was.  So they had me pack it up and I took it up to Kitty Hawk and shipped it to him.  It went from Kitty Hawk on a freight boat to Elizabeth City and he sent me a check for it, and it is right here I lost a fortune if I had kept it.'

The Wright Historians' Stories

 In the article, quoted from this linked Coast Guard site, that includes the statement above, the author presents how the Wright  historians discredit Adam Etheridge as follows:

Some historians have claimed that Etheridge was mistaken and that he had in fact obtained the wings of the two-seat Flyer built in 1905 which the brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1908.  Since the Wright brothers realized the historical significance of these first flights, and consequently the importance of the first powered aircraft, it is unlikely they would have left any part of that flyer behind when the packed up and left Kitty Hawk.  Etheridge's claim then is probably due to the failing memory of an old life-saver. (emphasis mine)

In other words, the historians want us to believe that Etheridge was given, not the 1903 "Flyer," as he says, but the 1905 plane that was smashed up by Wilbur in May of 1908 five years later when the brothers returned to Kitty Hawk to practice. It is critically important that Wright historians publish that Etheridge wasn't given the original Wright Flyer. If what he says is true, every exhibit claimed by Orville Wright and his historians to be of the original Wright flyer for nearly a century, including the one on display at the Smithsonian today, would be a hoax--as seems obvious but will be explained in more detail. Moreover, it would mean that the display of the Flyer III at Carillon Park in Dayton is not what it's said to be, either.

The Wright Flyer III at Kill Devil Hills in May,1908. It was crashed by Wilbur.

Looking at the historians' assertions in all fairness, we do find a contradictory provenance claimed for the 1905/1908 Wright Flyer III. We have found at least four different versions of what happened to the broken pieces of that Flyer after Wilbur wrecked it in 1908, and the Wright brothers left Kitty Hawk--Orville for Dayton, Wilbur for Europe. Below are four versions:

 (1) Orville Wright's official version is that Wilbur's crash wasn't so bad at all. According to his biography, approved by him and written by his friend Fred Kelly, "...after removing the engine and other machinery for shipment to Dayton, the Wrights left the plane in the shed at Kitty Hawk, thinking they might return..."1 ( This 1943 version might be later "spun" to accommodate the transfer of the machine eventually to Etheridge, then sold, but Orville and Kelly don't mention giving it away to anyone at any time.)

(2)  Another version: They burned the totally wrecked parts of the plane that were combustible, such as the upper wing and the front framing, and left the rest at the camp at Kill Devil Hills. The hardware was taken home. This is a speculation by Stanley Kandebo of "Aviation Week and Space Technology." (page 6)

 (3)  They gave Etheridge this plane, not the Flyer I, five years after the so called first flights, and he took it home, stored it, and then sold it for 25.00. This is the version historians want us to believe. Note that historians also don't want us to believe Etheridge's eyewitness account of the events of December 17, 1903, even though he corroborates the accounts of eyewitness, John Daniels..

(4) They burned it. This, according to actual eyewitness, mechanic Charles Furnas, who at age 28 was with the Wrights at Kill Devil Hills in 1908. Furnas helped them with their experiments and became the first passenger on a Wright plane. After Wilbur crashed, he says, the Wrights only took home the engine and chains of the 1905 Flyer. All flammable parts they burned right there at Kill Devil Hills. Since the Flyer, except for the metal parts, was wood and fabric, it was destroyed and couldn't have been the Flyer that Etheridge took home and later sold for 25.00, as historians want us to believe.

The Statement of Charlie Furnas, Eye Witness 1908

Charles Furnas, witness, in 1908

 Below is the account by Charles Furnas in 1933  in "Witnesses to Flight," p 5 about the burning of the 1905 flyer:

"I made several short flights with first one then the other then one day it was Wills turn to go and we made three attempts to get in the air and failed then they would not let me go again at that time so Will went by himself and was up for about six min. and fell and smashed the mach. so bad that we removed the engine and chains that drove the propellers and burned the rest." (emphasis mine)

 

 Readers of this blog will see the clear pattern emerging time and again of Wright historians ignoring the statements of true witnesses of the Wrights' activities in order to support the contradictory statements of the Wrights themselves. Please see "Pieces of the Wright Puzzle, Part III"  and former posts.

But we won't so easily dismiss the story of Charlie Furnas. Nor will we easily dismiss Etheridge's account. Scrupulous historians would examine, we think, the likelihood or even the possibility that both Furnas and Etheridge were honest men and didn't have such poor memories. But acceptance of the witness statements provides serious dilemmas for Wright historians, as we shall see--and more interesting puzzle pieces for us to explore. First of all, if someone actually bought either the Wright Flyer I or, as 'Wrightists' want us to believe, the Wright flyer III, from Etheridge, would he keep it hidden in a basement? Wouldn't it surface somewhere? It did.

As in many great mysteries, some old.letters, that had been saved for years by Orville Wright, provide some answers. The appearance of old letters has become a cliche in a piece of  fiction. So has Lord Byron's adage "truth is stranger than fiction."

One day this author was reading some of the original letters of the Wrights on the net that have been digitized for us by the Library of Congress. Up popped a number of letters to Orville Wright that had been written by a man named Samuel Colt. He said he was writing for his father in law, who had bought pieces of a Wright Flyer for his museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from a man who lived in the Outer Banks near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  And his father in law had purchased them for 25.00.***

To be continued.

* Editor's note: As Orville was getting on in age, Abbot was anxious to settle Orville's feud with the Smithsonian, so at Orville's insistence, he left out the reasons and references he wanted to include in the 1942  statement about the modifications on the Langley Aerodrome. He stated that he believed that later objective studies by experts would honestly review these modifications. This was never done. To be addressed in future blog posts at anothertruthinaviationhistory.blogspot.com

** In the early days, the wings were sometimes called the planes, so it's difficult to know from his accounts which Etheridge meant. His statement says he had "the old plane," and later primary documents, that are addressed in later blog posts here, prove that he had more than just the wings.

***The museum in Pittsfield bought the Flyer and a glider each for 25.00 for a total of 50.00. See future posts.

1 Kelly p. 221

Is It a Flight or Isn't It? History Speaks in 1905

"God cannot alter the past, though historians can."--Samuel Butler

The Wright catapult (shown above). Manual labor was used in France to pull a weight to the top of the derrick. The weight was then dropped to provide the impetus the Wrights needed to propel their "Flyers" into the air.*

Federation Aeronautique Internationale Criteria for a Viable Flight

According to a Santos Dumont website, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) was founded on October 14, 1905, to establish worldwide criteria to determine the viability of a heavier than air machine. It was patterned after the International Olympic Committee.

The criteria were as follows:

"a) the flight should be done before an official organization, qualified  to ratify it;

 b) the flight should be done in calm weather and over a plain ground, and  properly documented;

     c) the machine should be able to take off from a designated area by its own means with
     a man on board;

     d) the machine should carry on board the necessary source of energy;

      e) the machine should fly in a straight line;

      f) the machine should make a change of direction (turn and circle);

      g) the machine should return to the starting point."

The Dumont website states that since the FAI knew that it would be difficult to fulfill all the criteria in a first attempt, the members established a prize for the first ratified flight that could fulfill the first five criteria (a) to (e). The other two criteria could be fulfilled later. Important to historians is that they established that flight in a straight line should exceed 100 m (328 ft)." Later Ernest Archdeacon in France offered a prize to the first aviator that could achieve the criteria with a flight of a reduced length of 25 meters..

 The Wright "Flyer I" on December 17, 1903, met only a part of one of these criteria in "c." There must be a man on board. As for fulfilling the remaining criteria, the Wright "Flyer" was not viable.

       (a) Neither "flight"** was before an official organization, qualified to ratify it.

       (b) Neither "flight" was in calm weather. There was a near gale force wind. The "flights" were not over a "plain ground," according to the witnesses who were there. They were from a track set on a hill. The presence of a track and the hill would preclude "plain ground," as we understand it. Neither "flight" was properly documented, only claimed by the Wrights in their statements and writing. The photograph was not as it was said to be. See former posts.

       (c) The plane was not able to take off from a designated area by its own means. It needed the assistance of the hill and gravity, according to the witnesses who were there. And a headwind of over twenty mph helped provide the necessary lift on the wings. (Later, even with a more powerful engine, the Wrights used an inclined plane, wind, and/or a catapult for their "Flyers.") There was indeed a man on board.

      (d).  The plane did not carry on board all of the necessary sources of energy if the pull of gravity and the headwind provided impetus. Without these it's highly doubtful that the flyer had enough power to take off. To back this statement up, it is stated that the Wright Flyer I reconstructions today are not able to take off without a headwind. Note the dismal failure before the public in 2003.

      (e) The plane didn't travel in a straight line.The undulations described by the Wrights (and the witnesses) mean that the plane didn't have good pitch control, and this was probably one of the reasons for the crashes of both Orville and Wilbur's flight attempts in 1903. According to Culick, they never used the wing warping apparatus in 1903 in the powered flight attempts, "they were too busy trying to keep the plane in the air." To claim that a control apparatus was on board that worked in three dimensions, as "Wrightists" say, does not mean that it was viable at the time or that the flight was "controlled."

We have come upon assurances by Wright "historians" (link as an example.) that the FAI since that time accepted the Wrights' 1903 attempts at flight as the first flights. How can that be? Did they change their rules? Even if there could have been provided in 1903 an official group to observe and ratify the Wrights' attempts, the Flyer I was in no way capable of attaining the criteria as delineated above. On the other hand, the Whitehead machine definitely might have been capable from actual witness descriptions and the successes of reconstructions. Whitehead had the power plant and the lift, and it's later been determined that he had a steering mechanism.

Santos Dumont actually flew in 1906 (below) with official witnesses and won two prizes offered in France by Ernest Archdeacon. The Brazilians claim that he was the first to fly. There is no doubt that he was the first to make an official flight in Europe.*** Glenn H. Curtiss officially flew over a kilometer in 1908. He was the first to make a preannounced public flight in the United States.

The "Wrightists" have claimed they didn't really need their catapult to take off , e.g. 1904-1908); they cite flights of over 1000 feet in the summer of 1904 in Dayton, and that their catapult wasn't used until September of that year. However, no one denies a launch into a headwind was necessary for the Wright "Flyers." Unfortunately, we have only the word of the Wrights as to statistics and numbers of claimed flights that summer of 1904, and their willingness to stretch the truth makes acceptance reserved and unsettling. Using the Wrights' word as a reference, as most so called "authorities" do, is indeed a slippery slope.The Wrights were "gunning for" a patent and needed to state that they had a successful working machine to receive it. Documenting successful flights whether they ever happened or no would be a necessary prerequisite if they were ever to receive a patent.

At Kill Devil Hills in both 1903 and 1908, they had both the headwind and the hills (gravity) to provide assistance in taking off. A track was always needed, since the plane had no wheels. But the wind would have been prevailing close to the ocean at Kill Devil Hills, so they could more or less predict what direction to set up their needed track.  Most anywhere else, they had to re-lay the track to change its direction whenever the wind shifted to their disadvantage.

 As for "Wrightist" claims that the Wrights' "Flyer" I could take off from level ground, the catapult begs the question: Could they have achieved their claimed 852 feet flight without gravity plus the wind or a catapult plus the wind (if they had had one)? I haven't seen or heard of that demonstrated with any reconstructions. I would be interested in being informed if faithful and accurate reproductions have ever achieved that goal.

There are "reproductions" that have been modified in the light of present day knowledge that strike me as somewhat fraudulent, since the public is told that these demonstrate the "real Wright Flyers." See "Wright 'Flyer' Replicas and Reconstructions" in this blog: "Truth in Aviation History." As for a need of the catapult, it is common knowledge that the Wrights used it when they went public at Fort Meyer in 1908 and in Europe in 1908 as well, even though other aviators didn't need one. This did not impress the Europeans.

According to the Dumont website, the FAI analyzed previous flight reports before the organization was formed in 1905, and it concluded that no one had fulfilled their criteria.

"Many reports had already been done about flights by airplanes. In the 1890s, the Frenchman Clément Ader (1841-1926) made a flight demonstration before officers of the French Army with his Avion III...[What Ader was able to achieve has not been totally agreed upon because reports are conflicting.--ed.] At the same time, the German Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896), who had been conducting safety glides, made an experiment with a single-engine model. Jumping from the top of a hill, he managed to maintain himself in the air without, however, improving his performance. He returned to work with gliders until he died in an accident..."

"In 1901, the Teutonic-American Gustave Whitehead (1874-1927) announced that he had managed to take off and to fly in his machine. Whitehead’s feat was witnessed by almost 20 people, but no appropriate commission was there to observe it." {We maintain that if there is enough evidence that a pioneer fulfilled or was able to fulfill the essential FAI criteria, we should not historically eliminate their flights as viable]

The Dumont website states, "In 1903, the Wright American brothers, Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912) announced, by telegram, that they flew with the Flyer, starting from a field with an inclination of about nine degrees,**** and wind around 40 km/h (24.9 mph). In the following two years, they announced that they were making turns and long flights in closed circuits, but their machine depended on wind conditions or the use of a catapult to take off. Other reports were released, but none of them complied with all the criteria adopted by FAI." [As to the later claimed flights by the Wrights before their public flights in 1908, a number of witnesses were named by the Wrights. Their validity is in question. Many were known friends and family members. The Wrights' claimed statistics haven't yet been fairly analyzed and verified because, again, their were no unbiased officials present. Analysis and documentation in this blog prove that the Wrights' were prone to manipulate the truth to their advantage.]

With the criteria stated above, did the FAI ever come to accept the Wright's 1903 flight attempts as the first flights in history?  Were they convinced by all the Wrights' statements and published assertions?. Or did the FAI change or ease the qualifications at some time to accommodate the legend that became accepted that they were indeed the first to fly? This is an area of aviation history that needs to be thoroughly and honestly researched.

*******************

*The catapult was not used until 1904 when the Wrights no longer had the assistance of the hills and prevailing winds that they had at Kill Devil Hills. This photo appears to be of the catapult at Pau, France.

** Since our research indicates that there were only two attempts at powered flight on December 17, we choose not to accept the Wrights' version of four. The only basis we can find for stating there were four attempts is the word of the Wrights. Please refer to previous blog posts. Please inform us if there are documents other than the Wrights' that support their claim.

***Ader could be a contender for first flight.

****The Wrights claimed their "flights" December 17, 1903, were from level ground.