early powered flight

According to an article in the current issue (Nr. 49, 2003) of the
Rheinischer Merkur, Gustav Whitehead (Gustav Weißkopf) flew his plane
(photo shown on p. 22 of the newspaper) on the night of 13 August 1901
in Fairfield, Conn. It seems clear to me that the article is
motivated by both the centennial of the Wright flight and the fact
that GW was (and remained) a German despite changing his name and
living for so long in the States. The article effectively discredits
WW's attacks on GW's legitmacy (at least as they are given in the
article: I haven't seen the original WW argumentation). Basically,
the article accuses WW of playing games with the truth, e.g., that a
successful flight would have produced a newspaper article the next
day, whereas the Bridgeport Herald was a weekly newspaper, which in
fact did report the flight on the 18th of August; a photo was not
made, but night photography of moving objects was not technically
possible; a supposedly non-existent witness and helper mentioned in
the Herald article was allegedly never found, but, the RM writes, the
man's name was given in the paper as Andrew Cellie -- and in fact GW's
neighbor and assistant was the Swiss mechanic Andrew Suelli, probably
the person meant. The article then goes on to quote § 2 d of the
contract between the Smithsonian and the Wright brothers'descendants
("Erben") in which the SI is prohibited from crediting any-one else
with controlled flight etc. before the Wrights, on penalty of loss of
the right to exhibit the Flyer I (which the RM says can't really be
the original original any-way, since that plane was destroyed in a
crash). GW was self-financed, and when, on 17 January 1902, his plane
rose 70 feet high only to land on the water of Bridgeport's Long
Island sound and sink, the man was financially ruined.

There is a Flugpionier-Gustav-Weißkopf-Museum ( Plan 6, 91578
Leutershausen, Germany ) with an internet site:
www.weisskopf.de/museum.htm

It is interesting to note that this German newspaper makes
absolutely no mention of Herring of Michigan, the New Zealand
inventor, the British powered glider inventors, nor of the French
powered flight or any others (other than glider experimenters) -- all
of whom have to be considered seriously in tracing the history of hta
powered flight.

http://www.flyingmachines.org/ader.html


Kim Dammers wrote:
According to an article in the current issue (Nr. 49, 2003) of the
Rheinischer Merkur, Gustav Whitehead (Gustav Weißkopf) flew his plane
(photo shown on p. 22 of the newspaper) on the night of 13 August 1901
in Fairfield, Conn. It seems clear to me that the article is
motivated by both the centennial of the Wright flight and the fact
that GW was (and remained) a German despite changing his name and
living for so long in the States. The article effectively discredits
WW's attacks on GW's legitmacy (at least as they are given in the
article: I haven't seen the original WW argumentation). Basically,
the article accuses WW of playing games with the truth, e.g., that a
successful flight would have produced a newspaper article the next
day, whereas the Bridgeport Herald was a weekly newspaper, which in
fact did report the flight on the 18th of August; a photo was not
made, but night photography of moving objects was not technically
possible; a supposedly non-existent witness and helper mentioned in
the Herald article was allegedly never found, but, the RM writes, the
man's name was given in the paper as Andrew Cellie -- and in fact GW's
neighbor and assistant was the Swiss mechanic Andrew Suelli, probably
the person meant. The article then goes on to quote § 2 d of the
contract between the Smithsonian and the Wright brothers'descendants
("Erben") in which the SI is prohibited from crediting any-one else
with controlled flight etc. before the Wrights, on penalty of loss of
the right to exhibit the Flyer I (which the RM says can't really be
the original original any-way, since that plane was destroyed in a
crash). GW was self-financed, and when, on 17 January 1902, his plane
rose 70 feet high only to land on the water of Bridgeport's Long
Island sound and sink, the man was financially ruined.

There is a Flugpionier-Gustav-Weißkopf-Museum ( Plan 6, 91578
Leutershausen, Germany ) with an internet site:
www.weisskopf.de/museum.htm

It is interesting to note that this German newspaper makes
absolutely no mention of Herring of Michigan, the New Zealand
inventor, the British powered glider inventors, nor of the French
powered flight or any others (other than glider experimenters) -- all
of whom have to be considered seriously in tracing the history of hta
powered flight.

"Kim Dammers" wrote in message
om...
According to an article in the current issue (Nr. 49, 2003) of the
Rheinischer Merkur, Gustav Whitehead (Gustav Weißkopf) flew his plane
(photo shown on p. 22 of the newspaper) on the night of 13 August 1901
in Fairfield, Conn.

This is like discussing who REALLY killed Kennedy; mere mental
masturbation actually. There were aircraft sprinkled around the world
before 1903, there may well have been controlled, powered flight before
1903. We would certainly have airplanes today with or without the help of
the Wrights; but the Wrights were the first ones who actually built a
flyable, controllable airplane with a real operating internal combustion
engine that you could really buy and really take out and aviate (if you
survived).

Many countries have their own candidate for the world's first aviator,
and they are welcome to them, you can even find several viable candidates
within the United States; more power to them all! Much of the argument
centers around the definition of flight and much of the argument is made
forever theoretical by a lack of solid evidence. Continue on if you must.

Vaughn

On 6 Dec 2003 03:41:46 -0800, (Kim Dammers) wrote:

According to an article in the current issue (Nr. 49, 2003) of the
Rheinischer Merkur, Gustav Whitehead (Gustav Weißkopf) flew his plane

What a loon.

PLONK

Al Minyard