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UPDATE TO:
First Flyers —
  They're not who you think...:
TOPIC: Gustave Whitehead

Copyright 2013 by Richard Harris

 

UPDATE, March/April 2013: Some aviation historians and others believe that Gustave Whitehead -- rather than the Wright Brothers -- may have been the first to design, build and fly a fully-controlled, powered airplane, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 18, 1901 -- over two years before the Wrights.

The Wright Brothers / Whitehead controversy took a major turn, in the Spring of 2013, when "Jane's" -- the famed British publisher of the oldest, most authoritative and respected annual reference work in aviation: Jane's All the World's Aircraft -- announced it would henceforth revise its records to indicate that Whitehead's 1901 alleged flight truly happened, making Whitehead, in their estimation, the first to fly an airplane in fully controlled flight.

This has led to a flurry of publicity and public debate.
For examples of the news and perspectives, see the following sources -- pro & con, independent and otherwise :

  • JANE'S ANNOUNCEMENT :

    • 'Justice delayed is justice denied'
      (Jane's wordy announcement & explanation of their Whitehead endorsement; second of three consecutive blog articles on the same page.) Excerpt from "Executive Overview: Jane's All the World's Aircraft: Development & Production"
      by Paul Jackson, IHR Jane's website, March 8, 2013
    Gustave Whitehead

  • WHITEHEAD ADVOCATES:

    • "Gustave Whitehead - Pioneer Aviator" website,
      (endorsed by Jane's),
      by Whitehead advocate, aeronautical engineer and historian John Brown.
      Richly illustrated website, that presents the argument (with supporting documentation and photos) that Whitehead is the first 'true' airplane designer/builder/flyer.

    • "Flugpionier Gustav A. Weisskopf"
      [German for "Aviation Pioneer Gustave A. Whitehead".]
      Website of German museum that honors Gustave Whitehead.
      [Note that the German character for the double-letters "ss" -- as in "Weisskopf", the German name for "Whitehead" -- is a uniquely German letter resembling a capital "B"]

    • "Whitehead News Articles"
      (key articles from 1901 newspaper, and 1930s journal articles,
      transcribed without comment by the "Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co." website: An educational website (owned by Bookworks, Inc.) dedicated to preserving the memory of the Wrights, and of early aviation in general (See additional pages cited in "WRIGHT BROTHERS ADVOCATES", below).
      including:

      • "Did Whitehead Precede Wright In World's First Powered Flight?"
        from Popular Aviation, January 1935
        by Stella Randolf & Harvey Phillips
        Essay by leading Whitehead historians/advocates.

      • "Flying"
        from The Bridgeport Herald, August 18, 1901, by Richard Howell.
        Transcript of original "eyewitness" account of Whitehead's August,1901 flight, by the claimed eyewitness: the newspaper's sports editor.

    • "Gustave Whitehead and the First-Flight Controversy" by Frank Delear, from Aviation History magazine, June, 2006, reprinted at HistoryNet.org.
      Very detailed analysis and defense of Whitehead claims by a Connecticut aviation writer/historian, based on extensive, itemized research.

    • "Gustave Whitehead" page, Fairfield (CT) Museum & History Center
      Includes links to key Whitehead research resources at the museum and elsewhere, and also links to contradictory commentary.

    • "An Open Letter to Dr_ Tom Crouch, Smithsonian Institute, From John Brown, Whitehead Advocate" March 28, 2013 Flight Journal,
      An open letter to Smithsonian aeronautical curator, Tom Crouch, with critiques of Smithsonian / NASM positions regarding Whitehead research, Smithsonian limits on availability of historical resources to pro-Whitehead researchers, Smithsonian historiography standards and conduct (particularly by Crouch), inherent limits on Smithsonian objectivity, and related issues; with links.

  • WRIGHT BROTHERS ADVOCATES:

    • The Smithsonian Institute's National Air & Space Museum, (SI/NASM), Washington, D.C.

      Official and informal rebuttals of John Brown's claim (and others made on behalf of Gustave Whitehead), issued by the nation's federally-funded, leading aviation museum (whose pre-eminent treasure is the Wright Flyer).

      • "Did Gustave Whitehead Beat the Wright Brothers?:
        A Fresh Look at the Evidence by Senior Aeronautics Curator Tom Crouch" (Crouch, formerly of the Wrights' hometown, Dayton, Ohio, originally built his career on the promotion of Ohio history and the Wright brothers, and is the Wrights' chief biographer, and has multiple books about them currently in print. Now a leader of Smithsonian's Nat'l Air & Space Museum.)
        March 15, 2013, SI-NASM Press Release, with links.

      • "Not the First?:
        March 18, 2013, Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, with links.
        News essay, chiefly reproducing Tom Crouch's previous press release.

      • "The Flight Claims of Gustave Whitehead"
        April 6, 2013, from "AirSpace Blog", of the Smithsonian's Nat'l Air & Space Museum.

    • "The Case for Gustave Whitehead"
      by the "Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co." website -- an educational website (owned by Bookworks, Inc.) dedicated to preserving the memory of the Wrights, and of early aviation in general.
      1999-2011, Updated March, 2013
      (Detailed analysis and critique of Whitehead claims, largely critical.)
        Also on this website...
      • Did Whitehead Actually Fly?
        From The National Aeronautic Association Magazine, Dec. 1936
        by John B. Crane, Ph.D., Prof. of Economics, Harvard Univ.
        1930s essay discrediting Whitehead advocates. (NOTE: This article appears as the third of three consecutive articles on the same page; the other two support Whitehead.)

    • General Assembly of North Carolina:
      1985 Session Ratified Bill:
      Resolution 57; Senate Joint Resolution 1296:
      "A Joint Resolution
      Repudiating the Claim That the Wright Brothers Did Not Make the First Flight,
      and
      Expressing North Carolina's Pride In the Historic Achievements of the Wright Brothers."
      Ratified July 10, 1986.

      A passionate political declaration by the General Assembly (state legislature) of North Carolina -- home state of Kitty Hawk, where the Wrights' made their first powered flights. Denounces "first flight" claims for Gustave Whitehead, with itemized counter-claims.
      (Ironically, the Wrights were not from North Carolina, but rather Ohio, and only seasonal visitors, because the weather and topography of the Carolina seacoast better suited their early research efforts. They reportedly had little interaction with the people of North Carolina throughout their experiments.)

  • AVIATION MEDIA COVERAGE:

  • MINOR/LOCAL MEDIA COVERAGE:

  • MAJOR MEDIA COVERAGE, 2013:
    (NOTE: Popular major media rarely brings much direct knowledge, or technical & historic sophistication, to aviation history topics, usually echoing other media reports, without any significant independent research.)

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      They're not who you think..."
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