Alphonse Penaud's Planophore of 1871

"robert arndt" wrote in message
om...

Buying into that NASM crap again Al? The Gustave Weisskopf GW No.21
flew in 1901- two years before the Wrights and it was witnessed by
hundreds of people and reported in the local newspaper. But because
the scientific reporter did not like taking photos (preferring to
sketch instead) and the fact that Herr Weisskopf was not a US
citizen... he has been deliberately and conveniently dismissed. It
probably helped that the Wrights pressured the US to declare their
aircraft the first in order to recieve their permission to display
their aircraft in the US and the fact that Weisskopf tried to
concentrate on early aviation motors- his personal business that
ultimately failed which led him back to Germany and his death.
The Wrights have stated that the GW.21 "could have never flown" due to
its construction. But they were proven wrong by two different
replicas, one flown here in the US by a historic society and the
second in Germany with a Luftwaffe pilot at the controls.
BTW, who cares about the Wrights? The Germans had Lilienthal's gliders
and the Zeppelins.


Whitehead's flight witnessed by hundreds of people? Nope. Whitehead "flew"
at night, supposedly to avoid crowds. Of course, flying at night offered a
convenient explanation as to why nobody had seen his machine fly.

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