The Wright Stuff and The Wright Experience

Cub Driver wrote in message . ..
On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 12:32:05 -0400, "Leslie Swartz"
wrote:

know about the most recently publicized repros, but methinks thay are not as
rare as the TV folks would have you believe?

The difference lies in the degree of authenticity. Using contemporary
materials and knowledge, it shouldn't be difficult to build a Wright
Flyer that a quick & competent pilot could fly. The Warrenton VA and
the EAA efforts are attempts to duplicate the airplane that the
Wrights flew in 1903, in the case of Warrenton (I think I have this
right) even unto the engine.

The EAA effort is accompanied by a flight simulator, in which the
public can attempt to fly the thang. Evidently it is hugely difficult,
and experienced pilots climb down from the simulator sweating and
trembling. www.warbirdforum.com/wrightst.htm


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Big deal. Historic replicas of the '01 Gustav-Weisskopf/Whitehead GW
No.21 have flown in both the '80s and '90s- the latter by a Luftwaffe
pilot. The Wrights dismissed the aircraft as having flown first due to
its design... which they claimed "could never fly". The original
flight and the two replicas proved them wrong. The fact that the NASM
continues to present the Wrights flight at Kitty Hawk as where it all
began is BS. It began with the GW No.21 in Connecticut in 1901.
If only the scientific reporter of that flight had used a camera
instead of a sketch of that flight aviation history would be very
different. But of course Weisskopf was a German immigrant and not
intent on pioneering aviation; rather, he was fixated on engine
development which failed in the US. Returning to Germany after never
achieving US citizenship, Weisskof died... and was soon forgotten by
everyone except for those in Germany.
His name deserves to be up there with Lilienthal and Zeppelin. But
America will never see it no matter what the evidence. Even if his
exact motors were duplicated today and a perfect replica flew the
Wright myth will continue on just like the Yeager myth of breaking
Mach 1 first.
When it comes to "official" history vs real history I'd settle for the
latter.

Rob

p.s. Wright lovers everywhere, no offense intended. Their achievement
is worthy but you cannot just ignore other people's achievements or
just blindly accept the "official" history of everything. The way GW
is treated historically is shameful to say the least, deceitful at its
worst.