"Peter Dohm" wrote in
:

"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...
"Ray O'Hara" wrote in
:


"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...


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What started it all...........




if you go to the smithsonian you can impress your friends by
pointing
out
the "flyer" is hanging higher than it ever flew.



Or that while the US invented the airplane,
it was France that made all the major advances
with it for the next decade.





The enabling technology had just reached a level at which there were a
number of contenders, some of whom were French, at the time of the
Wrights' first flight--so that there was an element of luck in being
first, in addition to the obvious hard work and dedication.

However, from what I have heard, the Wrights and the US Patent Office
were also the principal reason that aviation technology in the US was
virtually frozen for the next decade. That allowed the French, who were
and still are very strong contenders in engineering and medicine, to
make most of the contibutions to aviation.

Regrettably, there is reason to suppose that the same is now happening
to us with regard to computer software--although the beneficiaries
appear to be different.
Peter
Just repeating what I have heard



True enough. While the Wrights were suing everyone
using their "wing warping" technology the French were
holding air races and inventing ailerons and rotary
engines and the tractor configuration. When WWI broke
out the allies turned to France to supply them with planes.

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