Re-making aviation history?
 

Wright Brothers Not First to Fly | Flying Magazine

I had not heard of Gustave Whitehead.
This is interesting.
For once - some good comments at the end of the article with additional information.
Jane's is quality.
This may be another *fact* to go down the tubes ;)

This will be hard to prove. In minds of people the wright brothers will be the first powered flight.

This gives me a new topic to read into now though!

Everyone should look into Samuel Pierpont Langley too...interesting story for him, especially once the Wright brothers achieved what he could not.

Fascinating.

The first question I had was, "How could this have been missed?"

I went to Jane's for the answer.

Executive Overview: Jane's All the World's Aircraft: Development & Production

Notably is this one...

A very, very compelling read.
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The Wrights were not the first to fly. That's never been in question.

The wrights were the first, per their claim, at heavier than air, controlled (lateralley & longitudinally, specifically), sustained, powered flight.

Whiteheads claim is credible and legitimate. The wrights secured their spot in history largely by extorting the Smithsonian through bargaining with the donation of their aircraft.

Looks like aviation history might very possibly be rewritten. This will be interesting to see if it goes any where. I plan on stopping by Kitty Hawk, NC in May regardless of what happens.

Is there a photo of the 'other guy's' airplane somewhere?

Does it look just like the Wright Flyer?

I found some pictures of his bat like aeroplane, by following the links in the Flying article, posted above. Strange looking but aparantly it worked, too bad he never got the recognition the Wrights did.

Have any of the great aeronautical minds that frequent APC looked at the pictures? I noticed the lack of rudder (some of the pics do show a sort of dorsal fin). I would also doubt the viability of a frame-and-fabric propeller doing useful work at manned-aircraft weights.

I'm thinking the Wrights have nothing to fear from this gentleman.

The Wrights had a lot to fear from multiple sources, which is why they resorted to extortion with the Smithsonian to establish their claim, and why they fought such pitched legal battles with Glenn Curtis.