Why Gustave Whitehead was Recognized as First in Flight

John Brown, D-38108 Braunschweig, j.brown@gustave-whitehead.com

On March 8 2013, subsequent to the publication of the findings below, Gustave Whitehead (born Gustav Weißkopf), was

recognized by the Aviation Reference Annual, „Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft“ (est. 1909), for having accomplished the

world’s first powered, sustained, controlled airplane flight on August 14, 1901 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA,

Gustave Whitehead, 1874-1927, son of a bridge construction engineer

1, lived in Germany from his birth on

1.1.18742 at least until Autumn 1889

3. As a schoolboy, he

built model aircraft4 and jumped from roofs with self-built

wings5. Starting mid 1887, he did a two-year machinist

apprenticeship6 at the Diesel Works – a predecessor of

today’s M.A.N.7 He emigrated to Brazil, then became a

sailor8 before immigrating to the USA in 1893

9.

Whitehead, 1894, Harvard Univ., Blue Hill Observatory

The oldest known photo of Whitehead shows him in 1894 as an assistant to Prof., W. Pickering, building meteorolog-ical kites at Harvard University’s Blue Hill Observatory. On March 19, 1895, America’s first avi-ation organization, the Boston Aero-nautical Society (BAS) was founded for the purpose of building Lilienthal gliders and experim-enting with powered flight

10, Whitehead

was hired as one of two mechanics

11. Its

Chairman was the publisher, James Means, who in 1894 had written the booklet, “Manned Flight”. Starting in 1895, Means was Otto Lilienthal‘s representative in the USA

12.

Whitehead got the BAS-job by claiming he knew Lilienthal

13. However, there’s no clear record of them

1 1934-11-05, Letter J. Whitehead to S. Randolph, p.2 2 Baptism Cert., Evang. Church, Leutershausen, 1866-90, Vol. 11, p.180 3 1889/Q4, Meldeeintrag/Registry, Höchst am Main, Germany, p.10 4 1934-08-06, Letter J. Whitehead to S. Randolph, p.1 5 1901-06-16, NY Herald, Part 5, p.3; 1937, Randolph, Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead, Places Inc., p.13 6 1934-11-05, Letter J. Whitehead to S. Randolph, p.2 7 1901-06-16, NY Herald, Part 5, p.3; 1901-11-24, Dallas Morning News, p. 10; 1901-11-19, NY Evening Telegram, p.10; 1901-12-07,

Weimar Mercury; 1952-08, Fränkische Zeitung, Ansbach; 1951-08-14, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung; 1979-09-17, Spiegel, p.82-86 [Prior to

that, he broke off a bookbinder apprenticeship: J.Whitehead to S.

Randolph, 5.Nov. 1934] 8 1934-11-05, Letter J. Whitehead to S. Randolph, p.4 9 1900-06-16, 12th US-Census, Distr.. 18, Part 179, Sheet 16, line 74,

column 16 10 1895-02-28, NY Evening Post, p.5 11 1936-01-28, Letter, A.Horn to S. Randolph, p.1 12 Correspondence, Means-Lilienthal, 1895-1896, NASM Archive 13 1981, Dream of Wings, T.Crouch, W.W.Norton & Co., p.169

meeting. It could only have happened between Whitehead’s sea voyages on the guano trading route between Chile and Germany (when he servied on the Norwegian Bark, „Gomünd“

14) or during his time at Blue

Hill. He insisted that not only did his employer (the BAS) work with Lilienthal, but that he himself knew Lilienthal

15.

Thus far, only circumstantial support for this claim could be found: - The Director of the Blue Hill Observatory, Rotch, had

studied in Berlin. There was an exchange program with the Observatorium in Berlin-Tegel

16.

- Immediately prior to the BAS’ founding in 1894, co-founder Cabot travelled to Germany. It’s not known if he was accompanied by anyone from Blue Hill

17.

- The English-language drafts of six letters Means sent to Lilienthal have been preserved only because German translations were sent to Lilienthal. It’s not known who did the translations. Only small samples of Whitehead’s and the translator’s handwriting have survived – too little for a graphological evaluation.

- Means wanted to establish gliding as a sport in America. To this end, he suggested either Lilienthal come to Boston or that a delegation travel to Berlin

18.

Whitehead’s immediate boss, Samuel Cabot, took a group from Boston to Berlin in 1896. It’s not known who all the group’s members were.

- In June 2013 a witness contacted the author. Prof. Em. Martha M. Shipul, a niece of Whitehead’s later helper, Junius Harworth, attested to seeing an original letter from Lilienthal’s brother, Gustav, in the possession of her uncle.

- Beyond this, all that’s known is that Whitehead was German, understood German technical terminology (evidenced by his correspondence with Austrian and

German aviation peer journals19

), spoke English,

was an experienced seaman, and was responsible for the construction and testing of two Lilienthal-gliders, the instructions for which were written in German.

- The aircraft with which Whitehead flew in 1901 had a nearly identical wing to the one patented by Lilienthal – see comparison (below):

14 1934-11-05, Letter, J. Whitehead to S. Randolph 15 1897-10-06, NY Press; 1897-10-06, NY World, p.8; 1901-06-09, NY

Sun, p.2; 1901-06-10, Washington Times, p.4; 1901-06-15, Water-

town Daily Times, p.12; 1934-10-07, Affidavit of Junius Harworth; 1908-11-14, Scientific American, p.338 16 2010, Wetterdrachen, Diem W./Schmidt, W., Norderstedt, pp.26 & 31 17 Letters, Lini Dienstbach (Carl’s sister),to Hermann Wetzler, 1894 Jan. 18 & 24, Sept. 23, Oct. 18, 1895 Jan. 9 & 13, 1896 Jan. 12 18 1896-04-30, Letter, James Means to Otto Lilienthal 19 1901-10, Illustrierte Aeronautische Mittheilungen, Deutsche Zeitschrift für Luftschifffahrt, No.4, p.164-5

Whitehead’s Machine No. 21, 1901 (above), Lilienthal‘s 1895 patent (below) –9 ribs per wing respectively.

By Spring 1897, Whitehead had built two Lilienthal gliders for the BAS. They were partly financed by the man who later sponsored the Wrights, Octave Chanute, President of the American Engineer’s Association

20.

BAS‘s Lilienthal glider replica

Cabot regretted Whitehead leaving the BAS and hoped to rehire him

21 Whitehead continued to be employed

separately as a kite-builder by one of the BAS’ officials, A.A.Merril, until at least September 1897.

20 1897-05-31, Letter, Octave Chanute to A.A.Merrill 21 1897-05-07, & 1897-09-01, Samuel Cabot to Octave Chanute; 1981, “A Dream of Wings”, T. Crouch, W.W.Norton & Co., p.119

Whitehead glider 1897 (above), Lilienthal glider 1895 (below)

In Summer 1897, Whitehead tested his own biplane glider called „Condor Gus“ at Blue Hill. This was reported in both international peer journals

22 and in correspondence

between Cabot and Chanute23

. (In 1902, Whitehead described these flights to his brother, John, too.

24)

Starting in June 1897 Whitehead was also employed by the Horsman Co. in New York as a kite builder and member of their „Scientific Kite Team“

25. The team

conducted meteorological and aerodynamic experiments, took aerial photos and gave kite and firework displays in and around New York. (The owner, Edward I. Horsman, had previously participated in the BAS contests

26). The

oldest known interview with Whitehead took place during just such an experiment on the roof of the Fifth Avenue Hotel on June 14 1897

27. Whitehead had strung several

box-kites together and measured them generating 100 pounds of lift. After Whitehead left Horsman‘s Scientific Kite Team, it continued to experiment with kites lifting both sandbags and humans

28. It even planned to install a rudder and a

motor29

. Horsman remained part of the US aeronautical community, even exhibiting alongside Whitehead and the Wright brothers ten years later at the Dec 1906 exhibition of the Aero Club of America

30. (Experiments with kites

22 1898-01, Zeitschrift für Luftschiffahrt, p.27;

1898, Illustrierte Aeronautische Mittheilungen p. 55 23 1897-05-07, Letter, Samuel Cabot to Octave Chanute 24 1934-09-03, Letter, J. Whitehead to S. Randolph, pp.7-8 25 1967, Heilbroner-Herz, L., Complete Book of Model Aircraft, p. 220 26 1898-07-04, NY Times; 1899-05-19, NY Sun, p.8;

1899-03, Chittenango Madison County Times, NY 27 1897-06-15, NY Herald, p.7 28 1903-09-08, NY Herald, p.7; 1903-09-08, New Daily Tribune;

1903-09-08, NY Sun, p.1 29 1902-12-29, NY Herald, p.4 30 1906-12,Catalogue, 7th Annual Auto Show, Aeronautical Division

were an important part of aviation’s development. The Wright brothers, too, started with kites and spoke of their „Scientific Kite Flying“

31.)

Whitehead was commissioned by Horsman to build a man-carrying airplane equipped with a 3 hp gasoline motor and a propeller

32. The completion of the motor was

delayed for so long that the case ended up in court33

. On Oct. 4, 1897, Whitehead invited both domestic and foreign journalists to a press conference in Manhattan. At least six New York newspapers as well as papers from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado and even Spain attended. Whitehead presented two airplanes

34; one a

bright red triplane glider; the other, an almost-completed biplane with fold-out wings (according to him, his 42

nd

flying machine). Some articles describing the event featured lithographs of these flying machines along with specifications of how one was powered by a 3 hp gasoline engine. Two days later, on Oct. 6 1897, Whitehead detached the motor and did a gliding display in the New York suburb, Jersey Heights, for hundreds of spectators

35.

Whitehead’s flight demonstration, Oct. 6, 1897 in New York

Curiously, even though it was reported internationally, neither the presentation of a powered airplane in 1897, nor its public demonstration in flight (as a glider with the motor detached) made its way into aviation history books, despite both events taking place before large crowds in the metropolis of New York. One of the spectators at the event was a young man who told reporters he’d „witnessed flights by Chanute and Lilienthal“. (The only person known to historians who fits this description is the New York aviation pioneer, Augustus Herring. He’d been assistant to Chanute, studied in Zürich, spoke German and was – as far as is

31 1981, Crouch, T., Dream of Wings, W.W.Norton & Co., p.236 32 1936-01-28 & 1936-08-27, Letters, A. Horn to S. Randolph 33 1901-06-09, NY Sun, p.2 34 1897-10-26, El Liberal (Spain); 1897-10-06, The World, p.8; 1897-10-06, NY Times; 1897-10-06, NY Press; 1897-10-06, NY

Herald, p.12; 1897-10-05, Syracuse Daily Journal, p.1; 1897-10-05,

NY Herald, p.11; 1897-10-09, Boston Globe 35 1897-10-07, NY Herald, p.15

known – besides Cabot, the only other American to have bought glider plans from Lilienthal

36.)

After the flight demonstration, Whitehead moved to Buffalo. On Nov. 24 1897, he married. When the celebrant asked his profession, he answered „Aeronaut“ – after all, for the last three-and-a-half years he’d been steadily employed as a builder of heavier-than-air aircraft.. [It wasn’t until two years later that the Wright brothers began investigating the problem of flight.

37.]

Records from the Buffalo Library show that Whitehead studied the works of Count d’Esterno whose flying machine (patented in 1864) bears strong resemblance to Whitehead’s later airplane (see below):

Count d’Esterno‘s 1864 patent (above) Whitehead’s „No. 21 airplane, 1901 (below)

Whitehead’s handwritten notes penned in 1897 at the Buffalo Library

38 show that he chose Prof. Maxim’s „Type

J“ propeller for his 1901 airplane. More than just a simple airscrew, it was one of the first modern propeller designs with optimized pitch angles and cambered blades. Whitehead’s airfoil also dates from his time in Buffalo. He chose one by the British researcher, Horatio Philipps

39. It

wasn’t symmetrical like Lilienthal‘s. Its camber was nearer the leading edge. Whitehead went a step further, penciling in the lower part of the wing below the camber – just like a modern wing. (Whitehead’s understanding of aero-dynamics is further underscored by a May 1903 article in which he explains how a cambered surface generates two-and-a-half times more lift than a flat surface.

40)

Philipps airfoil 1891 with lines penciled-in by Whitehead

Early in 1898, Whitehead moved to Baltimore where he presented a new, wheeled version of his triplane

41 (below):

36 1894-09-20, Letter, Octave Chanute to Otto Lilienthal 37 1899-05-30, Letter, Wilbur Wright to Smithsonian Institute 38 1896, Aeronautical Annual, Means, J., with stamp of Buffalo Library,

NY, Exhibit, Gustav Weißkopf Museum, Leutershausen 39 1978, History by Contract, O’Dwyer/Randolph, Majer & Sohn, pp.96-

97; Original bboks, Rose Whitehead-Radisson 40 1903-05-31, Bridgeport Herald, p.4 41 1898-03-04, NY World, p.15

Whitehead’s 1898 wheeled triplane

Whitehead’s Oct. 1897 and March 1898 designs provide a snapshot of his progress. Firstly, the triplane was reminiscent of Hargrave’s box-kite. (During Whitehead’s time at Blue Hill, the box-kite replaced the diamond-shaped „Malay kite“.) Secondly, Whitehead was still using a symmetrical, Lilienthal-type airfoil. Thirdly, his airplanes had a stabilizing, cruciform empennage. This was a key component in the invention of navigable airplanes. From Baltimore, Whitehead moved to Pittsburgh, where, according to a stack of affidavits

42 he flew a steam-

powered monoplane in the Spring of 1899, crashing in the process. Despite this, the aeronautical world expressed interest in his lightweight steam motor. Even as far away as Australia, Lawrence Hargrave built a Whitehead motor using original plans. On July 1, 1901 Hargrave presented it to the Royal Society of New South Wales

43. It’s unclear

how Hargrave got hold of those plans. However, Hargrave was an honorary member of the Boston Aeronautical Society. He corresponded regularly with its members, Chanute

44, Eddy, Zahm and Means. (One of the members,

Alexander G. Bell, even visited him in Sydney45

.) A complete model of a steam motor, hand-built by Whitehead in 1898, has survived to this day and can be viewed at the Deutsches Flugpionier-Museum Gustav Weißkopf in Leutershausen, Germany

46.

In Dec. 1899, the press reported Whitehead’s arrival in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and that he was already performing flight tests there

47. Whitehead’s first Bridgeport

machine had only one propeller48

. He attached it to a post and tested it flying in circles

49.

In June 1901, the frequency of reports about Whitehead increased. Newspapers across America - even in France

42 Mrs. L. Davarich, Charles L. Richey, Martin Devine & John A. Johns

say they saw the airplane; Louis Davarich says he saw it fly. Whitehead

mentioned the flight in 1901: NY Evening Telegram, 1901-11-19, p.10 43 1902-09, Aeronautical World, Vol I, No.2, p.13;

1977, Shaw, W. /Ruben, O.. Lawrence Hargrave, Cassell, p.117 44 Only one letter, Chanute-Hargrave (1893-09-26) survived 45 http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/timeline4.html, Monash

Univ., Melbourne, Australia, retrieved 2012-07-18; 1893-09-26, Letter, Octave Chanute to Lawrence Hargrave. 46 1934-08-21, letter Charles Whitehead (son) to S.Randolph - motor

dated by L. Davarich,, 47 1899-12-28, Holley Standard 48 1964-09-03, Affidavit of John S. Lesko 49 1936-01-28, Affidavit of Joseph Ratzenberger; 1936-10-10, Affidavit of Cecil A. Steeves

and England50

- reported the test of his new monoplane. It carried sand bags during that test flight. It was his 57

th

flying machine and 20th manned airplane, he said

51. It was

equipped with a new acetylene motor and two tractor propellers. The test occurred near Fairfield, about 1.5 miles from Bridgeport.

Whitehead with his Machine No. 21, mid 1901

Two months later, on August 14

th 1901, Whitehead again

invited the press to witness his first manned flight. Around midnight, Whitehead, his helpers and the press set out from Bridgeport to Fairfield. The flying machine travelled along the road under its own power. It arrived at first light. After extending and securing the wings, the takeoff took place at sunrise. The flight covered half a mile at a height of 15 meters (fifty feet), during which Whitehead made a slight turn to avoid a grove of chestnut trees. The Editor of the Bridgeport Herald, Richard Howell, wrote an eyewitness report of Whitehead’s first flight. It was published four days later on August 18, 1901 in the very next edition of his newspaper. His article was illustrated by a lithograph, based on a blurred photo he’d taken. (Due to high type-setting costs, it was normal at the time to use a lithograph, even if a high-quality photo was available.)

Lithograph illustrating the eyewitness report of Whitehead’s first flight on August 14, 1901

50 1901-06-08, Scientific American, S.357; 1901-06-09, NY Sun, S.2;

1901-06-10, Washington Times, p.4; 1901-06-15, Watertown Daily

Times, p.12; 1901-06-16, NY Herald, Part 5, p.3; 1901-06-21, Vermont Phoenix; 1901-07-26, Minneapolis Journal, p. 7; 1901-08-02,

Ogdensburg News; 1901-09-08, Le Petit Parisien, p. 4; 1901-07-10,

Falkirk Herald, p.7; 1901-07-10, Kent & Sussex Courier, p.3 51 1901-11-19, NY Evening Telegram, p.10

Other witnesses, Harworth and Pruckner52

also wrote eyewitness reports. And Whitehead himself sent his own flight report to the press

53. So far, the author has found

one-hundred-and-thirty-three54

newspaper reports of Whitehead’s flights in the years 1901/1902 – many of them on front pages. The reports appeared all over the world, from Oceana (Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia), throughout Europe to North America and Hawaii. 17 eyewitness statements testify to flights by Whitehead between August 1901 und January 1902 (14 of them sworn under oath)

55. Some were even recorded on audio

and video. Photos and parts of the original airplane have survived. However, there’s no clear photo of it in flight. The original photo of Whitehead’s flight was lost when the newspaper changed hands. And Whitehead’s own copy was lost when his workshop burned down. Two such photos were known to have been on display in Bridgeport in September 1904. A newspaper report described them as showing the airplane about 20 feet off the ground (2/3 of the 36ft. wingspan) with the takeoff slope in the background

56. Two print media, one of them „Scientific

American“, later reported seeing the photo at the exhibition of the Aero Club of America in January 1906

57.

Mid 2012 the author decided to check the credibility of these journalists. Was there cause to assume all these reports were lies (as stated in current literature)? Several panorama photos of that exhibition can be found in the Hammer Collection at the Smithsonian Institute. That’s where the author worked in 2012 when hired to research a 2-part TV-documentary for Smithsonian Channel. One such photo shows a Lilienthal glider hanging from the ceiling. However, in the blurred background, photos can be seen hanging on the walls. Using 1981 technologies, previous researchers had discovered three known photos of Whitehead’s 1901 airplane showing it on the ground. However, there were other photos, the content of which – due to the degree of blurriness – couldn’t be viewed with 1981 technology. Forensic technologies have come a long way since then. Today, cameras on satellites in low-earth orbit can read texts in documents on the earth below. Police now regularly solve crimes using software to analyze shadows, contrasts and patterns in surveillance videos. Germany is

52 1964-10-30, Affidavit of Anton Pruckner;

1934-08-21, Affidavit of Junius Harworth 53 1901-08-25, Boston Journal, p.14; 1901-09-19, Broad Axe, St. Paul, Minnesota, p.2 54 http://www.gustave-whitehead.com/history/news-reports-1901-2-

flights/ (author’s website) 55 Junius Harworth (1934-10-07), Anton Pruckner (1934-10-30, 1936-

01-04 & on tape 1963-11-13) , Richard Howell (1901-08-18), Alexander Gluck (1934-07-19), Michael Werer (1934-09-24), John S. Lesko (1934-

09-24 & 1936-01-04), John A. Ciglar (1936-01-04), Joseph Ratzen-

berger (1936-01-28), Louis Darvarich (1934-07-19), Cecil A. Steeves (1936-10-10, 1964-08-17 & on tape 1960s), Thomas Schweikert (1936-

06-15), William London (1948-05), Mary Savage (1948-05), John F.

Fekete (1948-05), John Harvey (1948-05), Frank Layne (on tape 1960s), Elizabeth Koteles (1974-08-01 & on tape & Video 1974-02-02) 56 1904-10-01, Bridgeport Daily Standard, p.5 57 1906-01-27, Scientific American, p. 94; 1906-03-08, Silver Springs Signal, p. 3

particularly advanced in this field because speed cameras require identification of the driver, not just the number plate. This technology enabled identification of further images. The goal was to determine if there was an image there which could be the one the news reports described (i.e. Whitehead in flight). One of the photos fit this description. It shows a monoplane at a height of roughly 2/3 of its wingspan. Furthermore, there’s a fencelike object in the foreground, a tree on the right, a horizon falling off to the left and a low light-source on one side, consistent with dawn or dusk. These features conform to the mirrored image of the lithograph illustrating the eyewitness report which appeared in the Bridgeport Herald. Added to that is the fact that the photo was hanging right next to images known to shown Whitehead’s 1901 machine. However, since - due to the blurriness - important details

(such as the motors) can’t be identified, the photo can only serve to circumstantially sub-stantiate the credibility of those witnesses who wrote that they saw a photo of Whitehead flying his 1901 machine at that exhibition.

Apart from power, control is also a necessity for true flight. Whitehead’s 1901 airplane had a steering apparatus

58. It

was described in at least three newspapers as follows: „wings, which can be set at different angles“

59.

Whitehead’s brother, John, described it thus: “For steering there was a rope from one [of] the most forward wingtip rib[s] to the one opposed running over a pull[e]y, in front of operator. A lever was connected to pull[e]y.”

60

Statements by family members generally have low evidentiary weight. In the past, Whitehead critics have dismissed this particular statement as sour grapes

61. After

all, the central feature of the Wrights’ patent was wing-warping. However, in the peer journal Aeronautical World, dated Dec. 1 1902, Whitehead described the wing-warping system in his No. 22 aircraft as follows (in the illustration, below):

58 1901-08-21, Chicago Tribune, p.4 59 1901-11-24, Dallas Morning News, p.10;

1901-11-19, NY Herald, p.10; 1901-12-07, Weimar Mercury 60 1934-08-06 & 09-03, letter, J. Whitehead to S. Randolph 61

Whitehead’s main critic ist he Smithsonian Institute. Under point 2.d.

of ist contract with the Wrights‘ heirs, dated 1948-11-23 , it agreed to

never state anyone else flew before the Wrights. It defends itself against accusations of bias by saying, its own Director, Langley, had wrongfully

claimed first flight primacy. When asked why the contract doesn’t

simply forbid it from claiming Langley was first, no answer is forthcoming.

Whitehead’s wing-warping disclosure, Dec. 1, 1902, nearly 4 months before the Wrights‘ patent application.

The fundamental significance of this disclosure (above) is the fact that the Wrights didn’t apply for their wing-warping patent until some four months later (on March 23, 1903). Photos exist showing Whitehead’s wing-warping system. Modern technology made it visible:

Enlargement of Whitehead’s cockpit, mid 1901: Cables run from the windlass’s lower tip to each wing.

A later improvement was the addition of a vertical rudder for yaw control. Whitehead himself described it on many occasions

62. (Smithsonian Curator, Paul Garber, even

drew a plan of it when he interviewed Whitehead’s assistant, Tony Pruckner, in 1966.) Whitehead’s airplane therefore had 3-axis control. (3-axis control was invented by the Frenchman, Goupil. But the Wrights claimed it, citing US patent law which, at the time, required an invention to be practically demonstrated to secure a patent.) 3-axis control was one of the most important steps toward the development of the airplane. Whitehead’s airplane No. 21 had several other, interesting technical features. It was equipped with two interconnected, acetylene motors. They worked like steam

62 1901-08-23, Washington Times, p.2; 1901-08-23, St. Louis Republic, p.6; 1902-01-26, Bridgeport Herald, p.4&9; 1901-08-23, NY Sun, p.8;

engines, i.e., they didn’t have internal but rather, external combustion. The gas pressure they created was fed into either separate cylinders or all into one cylinder. One motor could drive either the wheels or the propellers; the other drove just the propellers. At rotation speed

63 the

smaller motor’s 10 hp was transferred via a lever and a hose to augment the larger, 20 hp motor which drove the propellers

64. This way, a total 30 hp powered the flight.

In 1901 and 1902, Whitehead’s acetylene motor was written up in the international peer journal „L’Acetylene“, published in French

65. (At the time, there were high hopes

for acetylene as an alternative energy source. Acetylene-powered cars were sold in New York as early as 1899

66.)

Via the same lever which transferred the gas pressure, the fabric wings’ surfaces were brought under tension

67. Here,

a similar procedure was applied as is used in modern paragliding or kite-surfing where the wings/kite is left in a safe, low-lift mode during preparations, then tightened at the last minute for take-off. This may explain why reports observed that Whitehead’s aircraft „shot in the air“.

68

After the events of August 14 1901, Whitehead made several more flights over the next five months

69. He built a

stronger, 40 hp diesel motor, added silk (rather than canvass) wings and called the new version „No. 22“. It had a pneumatically regulated wing-warping system. On January 17, 1902, Whitehead navigated a full circuit over the shallows between Charles Island and the Milford coast

70. (Flying over water was a safety measure also

used by the pioneers, Kress and Blériot. Others, such as Herring, Chanute and the Wrights, made their flights over sand dunes for the same reason.) Whitehead had plans for yet another version, „No. 23“. Drawings show that it had a canard. Unfortunately, it’s not known why Whitehead abandoned this idea,. His selection of a monoplane with inherently stable dihedral, an empennage, wheeled undercarriage and tractor propellers was about 25 years ahead of its time. Today, almost all airplanes embody these features. On the other hand, the Wrights‘ canard biplane with pusher-propellers, catapult-launch, skid-landing and 10° anhedral (on each wing) quickly all but disappeared from aviation design. Whitehead’s media success attracted a steady stream of opportunists. The first, H. Le Cato, was a convicted fraudster from Philadelphia

71. Promising a lucrative, 6-

63 1901-08-19, San Francisco Call, p.1; 1901-11-19, NY Evening

Telegram, p.10; 1901-11-19, NY Herald, p.8; 1901-11-24, Allg. Sport-Zeitung, p. 1353-1354; 1902-03, Wiener Luftschiffer Zeitung, p.36 64 1902-04-01, American Inventor, pp.1-2 65 1901-10-06, Le Journal de LAcétylène, p.318;

1902-01-05, Le Journal de LAcétylène, p.7-8 66 1899-11-11, Scientific American, p.315 67 1902-04-01, American Inventor, p.1-2 68 1901-08-19, San Francisco Call, p.1 69 1901-11-17, Bridgeport Herald, p.1; 70 1902-04-01, American Inventor, p.1-2;

1902-05-02, L'Aeronaute, p.143 71 1890-02-08, Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, p.2; 1890-03-08, Lockport Daily Standard, p.1

month exhibition contract, he enticed Whitehead to bring his airplane to Atlantic City. It arrived on Sept. 1, 1901

72.

There, the next opportunists awaited him. This time they were employees of the Smithsonian. A clerk, James Traylor, watched the airplane being unloaded. An ethnologist, Frederick Hodge, was assigned to watch its assembly. They’d been instructed to spy on Whitehead by Charles Manly, assistant to Smithsonian Director, Prof. Langley

73. (Langley himself wanted to enter history as the

inventor of the airplane.) Three affidavits

7475 substantiate that the Wright brothers,

too, were among Whitehead’s first visitors. Previously, on July 1, 1901, Octave Chanute wrote a letter to the Wrights, recommending Whitehead’s lightweight, 10 hp, 30 lb. motor. On July 4, 1901, Wilbur Wright replied as follows: “The 10-horsepower motor you refer to is certainly a wonder if it weighs only thirty lbs. with supplies for two hours, as the gasoline alone for such an engine would weigh some ten or twelve lbs. thus leaving only 18 or 20 lbs. for the motor or about two lbs. per horsepower. Even if the inventor miscalculates by five hundred percent it still would be an extremely fine motor for aerial purposes”.

At the time, the Wrights were actively looking around for a powerful, lightweight motor. And they almost always followed Chanute’s advice (e.g. when hiring Huffaker, Herring and Spratt.). Furthermore, the Wrights had a good friend in Bridgeport, Simon Lake, with whom they discussed their patent application prior to 1903

76.

Prior to 1902, the Wrights were in contact with most known aviation pioneers such as Means, Cabot, Chanute and Langley. They provably knew he was building motors for their competitors, Herring/Arnot. Why would they have ignored him - right when his flight experiments were reported, not only in Scientific American

77 but in

newspapers around the world including their county’s own newspaper in Ohio

78, However, despite all the evidence,

the Wrights still denied ever visiting Whitehead – or even Bridgeport – before 1909

79.

When Le Cato’s promised show-contract fell through, Whitehead returned to Bridgeport where the next opportunist, a Texan named William D. Custead, awaited him. Custead promised to invest $100,000 but disappeared again quickly when Whitehead refused to divulge secret details about his acetylene motor. Custead

72 1901-08-31, Wichita Daily Eagle, p.12; 1901-08-23, Washington Times, p.2 73 1901-09-20, Letter, C.M. Manly to F.W. Hodge 74 Junius Harworth (1934-10-07), Anton Pruckner (1936-01-04 & on tape 1963-11-13) , Cecil A. Steeves (1936-10-10) 75 1901-09-05, News Herald, Hillsboro, Ohio, p.3 76 2012-08-20 http://www.simonlake.com/html/simon_lake_who_.html:

“The inventors first met when the Wright brothers submitted their

airplane designs to Simon Lake for his review before making their famous Kitty Hawk flight.” 77 1901-06-08, Scientific American, p.357 78 1901-09-05, News Herald, Hillsboro Highland Co., Ohio, p.3 79 Did they remove Whitehead letters from their files? In a similar case,

a letter in which Dr. George A. Spratt corrected their wind tunnel

calculations was removed. This came to light when a copy of it showed up in their sister’s files.

at least bought a Whitehead motor80

and became one of the first dealers for it

81.

Whitehead’s most fateful visitor was Hermann Linde, a well-off, German art dealer and Shakespearen actor

82.

Towards the end of 1901, Linde formed a partnership with Whitehead and financed a factory for the development of a larger airplane. Encouraged, Whitehead took out a $1,700 loan. He even wrote to his German relatives that he was now the owner of an aircraft factory. Secretly, Linde soon started colluding with workers. Mid-January 1902, right when Whitehead was short of cash, Linde withdrew his support, announced the formation of his own airplane company

83, refused to pay any more

bills84

and locked Whitehead out of the factory. Linde was later convicted of multiple crimes and spent his last days in an insane asylum

85. But, that all came too late for

Whitehead. He was broke. Four to six unfinished airplanes languished in Linde’s workshop

86.

No. 22 sustained motor-damage and, for lack of a hangar, spent the Winter outdoors, becoming unserviceable. In April 1902, Whitehead’s brother, John, came to Bridgeport and contributed his savings

87. That wasn’t enough. John

soon left. As a result, Gustave decided to only build airplanes or motors for others – cash in advance. At the time, he had a wife and two infant children to support and had just started building a house for them. (He’s not the only guy to have given up flying when he could no longer afford it – but probably the first!) This decision led to Whitehead becoming a central figure in early US aviation. He quickly made a name for himself as a supplier. As early as 1902 the “Automobile Trade Magazine” reported that customers could order “lightweight kerosene, gasoline, acetylene, steam and gunpowder motors along with dirigables and airplanes” from Gustave Whitehead

88.

Whitehead exhibited one of his motors at the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis

89. At the accompanying contest, Roy

Knabenshue piloted Thomas Baldwin’s „California Arrow“ to victory. It was equipped with a Whitehead motor – at least that’s what the eyewitness report of a Viennese aviation journalist states

90. However, some American

historians have claimed it had a Curtiss motor, which isn’t necessarily a contradiction. Two sources

91 report that

Whitehead subcontracted for Curtiss. This would explain the similarity between many early Curtiss and Whitehead motorsV also, why Whitehead’s later business partner,

80 1949-10-30, Waco Tribune Herald, (Centennial Edition) 81 1902-02-23, NY Herald , Teil 4, p.5 82 1909-05-29, NY Dramatic Mirror, p.3 83 1902-01-26, Bridgeport Sunday Herald, pp..4 & 9 84 1902-04, NY Sun 85 1909-05-29, NY Dramatic Mirror, p. 3 86 1934-08-06, Letter, J. Whitehead to S. Randolph 87 1902-08-02, Bridgeport Daily Standard, p.1 88 1902-09, Automobile Trade Magazine, Horseless Age Co., , p. 217;

1910, Automobile Trade Journal, Band 14, Chilton Co., pp.203-4 89 1981, Crouch, T., Dream of Wings, W.W.Norton & Co.,p. 119 90 1904, Wiener Luftschiffer Zeitung No. 11, p.251 91 2010, Steam Aircraft, Books LLC Memphis Tenn. USA, p.19,

footnote 13, Air Sports International; 2008, Visual Languages for Interactive Computing, Fernando Ferri, IGI Global Snippet, p. 442

George A. Lawrence, was a creditor in the Curtiss-Herring bankruptcy proceedings

92. (Knabenshue later became the

Wright Exhibition Team’s Chief Pilot while Baldwin became Vice-President of the Aero Club of America. In 1908. His airship was selected alongside the Wrights’ Flyer as one of the US Army’s first aircraft.

93)

Yet another Whitehead motor was used in St. Louis. Prof. Carl E. Meyers sold balloons to the US Weather Service and the US Army’s Signal Corps

94. His airship, „Sky Cycle“

(originally pedal-driven), was patented in 1897. In July, 1901, a New York newspaper reported that the same 30lb./10hp motor which had fascinated Wilbur Wright would be installed in the Sky Cycle for the St. Louis event

95. In St. Louis, the local press then described the

motor’s use96

. The Sky Cycle was one of the earliest, commercially successful flying machines. Prof. Meyers sold it via classified ads in national science magazines for many years, offering versions with 1, 2, & 4 cylinder motors

97. It’s not known how many were by Whitehead.

The world record balloonist, H.E. Honeywell, also ordered two Whitehead motors

98, as did the physicist, John J.

Dvorak. After examining the motor, Dvorak penned a front-page article, declaring that Whitehead was farthest ahead among the early aviation pioneers

99.

The Connecticut resident, Charles K. Hamilton, who later became a Curtiss Show Team pilot, equipped his airship with a Whitehead motor in 1905

100. Mid 1905, Hamilton

was hired by New York Attorney, Israel Ludlow, to pilot manned kites towed spectacularly behind boats and cars along the beaches of New York. A short time later, Ludlow installed a Whitehead motor and began powered flight tests. In 1907, Ludlow hired J.C. (Bud) Mars (who later also joined the Curtiss Show Team). That same year, Ludlow (assisted by 10 US Navy personnel) displayed his powered airplane piloted by Mars at the World Fair in Jamestown and the Air Races in St. Louis

101.

Thus, in 1907, both US military services were equipped with Whitehead-powered aircraft (Army, Meyers / Navy, Ludlow). The Wright brothers, however, didn’t sell their machine to the US Army until 1908. 1906 was a year in which Whitehead’s position in US aviation was prominent. Close analysis of photos of the Aero Club of America’s January 1906 exhibition revealed not only photos of Whitehead’s machines but also evidence of Whitehead’s stature among US aeronauts. Visitors were guided around the room clockwise. First, they saw a collection of photos showing Whitehead’s aircraft and motors followed by 33 photos of famous airships (Santos-Dumont, Knabenshue, etc.), then 8

92 1910-12-06, Binghamton Press, p.5 93 1908-10-04, Los Angeles Herald, Special Section 94 2012-09-10, Smithsonian Research Information System (Internet) 95 1901-07-08, Utica Observer 96 1904-08-25, St. Louis Republic, p. 4 97 Popular Mechanics, classifieds, monthly 1905-1911

(e.g. Popular Mechanics, Apr. 1906, p. 486) 98 1935-04-18 & -06, Letters , H. Honeywell to S. Randolph 99 1904-10-29, John J. Dvorak in Bridgeport Daily Standard, p. 1 100 1906, Automotive Industries, Vol. 14, p.600;

1906, Motor Body Paint & Trim, Vol. 42, p.404 101 1907-08, Popular Mechanics

photos of Lilienthal, 6 of Herring/Arnot, 6 of the Wright brothers, 8 of Prof. Langley and 20 of Hiram Maxim. The highlight was Baldwin’s Whitehead-powered „California Arrow“ in which Knabanshue made one of the first controlled airship flights over New York in 1905. At the Aero Club’s 2

nd exhibition in December 1906, it was

similar. Four Whitehead motors were on display along with the fuselage of his No. 21

102103. German journalist and

motor expert, Carl Dienstbach, wrote a positive evaluation of Whitehead’s lightweight 18-20 hp motor and balanced propellers

104.

At the January 1906 exhibition, neither the Wrights nor Herring/Arnot displayed photos of their claimed powered flights. Instead, they showed kite and glider photos. (As “proof” they’d flown, the Wrights placed the crank-shaft of their motor on a stool.) Prof. Langley displayed a photo of a powered model. It’s therefore understandable why photos of Whitehead’s powered flight were given a place of honor at the entrance to the display area. At the time, only airships were otherwise known to be capable of freely navigating through the air in any direction. (The Wrights were silent, indeed, they didn’t release photos of any powered flights until May 20, 1908, shortly after they returned to Kitty Hawk for the first time on May 6, 1908). . Alongside his brisk motor business, Whitehead took on aircraft construction jobs. One of his customers was Wild-West hero, Buffalo Jones

105, for whom he built an orni-

thopter106

. His main customer was "Scientific American’s Aeronautical Editor, Stanley Yale Beach, whose father edited and grandfather founded that magazine. Beach was also co-founder of the New York Aeronautical Society

107.

Whitehead built at least three aircraft for Beach. Beach had his own ideas about aircraft design and was very insistent about them

108. In one case, the two argued

so vehemently that Beach had Whitehead arrested109

. The disagreement arose when Beach hacked off the upper wing of a biplane to make it a monoplane (which he believed would fly better). That led Whitehead to confiscate the engine – presumably for safety reasons

110.

(In unrelated incidents, Beach ran over and killed a pedestrian in Bridgeport

111, then refused support for his

wife and child causing his father to cut off all funds, thus ending his aviation experiments.) A Beach aircraft was one of three Whitehead-built planes to compete at the very first air show of the New York

102 1906-12-15, Scientific American, p. 447-449. 103 1906-12-15, Scientific American, p. 448 (photo, lower right: stern of

Whietehead’s 1901 machine);

1907-01, Illustrierte Aeronautische Mittelungen, p.298; NASM, Ernest Jones Collection, Accession XXXX-0096 Appendix,

p. 33, (photo, bow of Whitehead’s 1901 machine); 104 1907-01, Illustrierte Aeronautische Mittelungen, p.298 105 1966, Before the Wrights Flew, S. Randolph, G.P.Putnam’s Sons,

New York, p.101 106 1934-07-23, letter, Junius Harworth to Stella Randolph 107 1908-11-03, NY Sun, p.6; 1909-03-14, NY Times 108 1934-07-17, Interview protocol, S. Randolph/S.Y. Beach 109 1910-06-06, NY Sun, p.10 110 1909-12-05, NY Sun, Part 2, p. 8 111 1906-09-13, NY Herald, p.4

Aeronautical Society in Morris Park in 1908112

. The second was built for Louis R. Adams

113, President of the

Long Island Automobile Club and Vice President of both the New York Aeronautical Society

114 and the Aero Club of

America115

. The third was built for Bridgeport resident, Howard Booth

116.

In 1909, all winged, heavier-than-air aircraft in America were grounded by Wright brothers’ injunctions

117. If an

aviator wanted to continue flying his own aeroplane, he was required to buy a Wright license which cost more than $25,000

118. The only other legal option was to buy the

Wrights' canard-biplane-pusherprop invention119

, which most were unwilling to do. Whitehead’s final aircraft construction job was for a helicopter

120 (which didn’t violate the Wrights’ patent). He

built it for the President of the Aeronautical Society of America, Lee S. Burridge

121. Whitehead had previously

stopped flying altogether when the monoplane he was piloting crashed into a bridge, crushing his rib-cage.

122

Starting in 1910, Whitehead’s motor business boomed all the more. He continued building motors for retail customers like C.S.Wilson, who successfully competed in events in his Whitehead-powered plane

123. He also

wholesaled his engines to dealers and manufacturers. One was America’s first successful, commercial aircraft builder, C. & A. Wittemann

124.

Curtiss type Wittemann airplane with Whitehead motor

112 2012, T. Crouch, Aeronautic Society of New York & the Birth of American Aviation 113 1909, Automobile Topics, Vol. 17, E.E.Schwarzkopf, p. 1555;

1900-12-20, NY Daily Tribune, p.5 114 1915-03-26, NY Tribune, p.11 115 1908-09-20 Los Angeles Times, Part 3, p.1; 1912-05-10, NY Times 116 1908-11-22, Bridgeport Sunday Herald 117 1909-08-20, Syracuse Herald, p.1;

1910-04-07, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, p.4 118 1910-05-22, NY Sun 119 1981, Crouch, T., A Dream of Wings, p. 307: As a result of the

Wrights‘ injunctions against all flying in the US, their friends (incl. Octave Chanute & Dr. George A. Spratt) distanced themselves. 120 1911-07-23, Bridgeport Sunday Herald, p.18 121 1911-07-23, Bridgeport Sunday Herald, p.18; 1911-12-23, Western Champion, p.24, Qld., Australien 122 1910-07-13, Utica Daily Press, p.1; 1910-07-13, Rome Daily

Sentinel, p.5; 1910-07-13, Democrat Chronicle, Rochester, NY, p.1; 1910-07-23, Fair Play, St. Genevieve, Mo., p.1 123 1910, Aircraft, Bänder 1&2, p.225; 1978, Randolph/O’Dwyer,

History by Contract, p.138 124 1910, C. & A. Wittemann Catalogue

Charles Wittemann was co-founder of the New York Aeronautical Society

125. When asked about Whitehead’s

abilities as a motor-builder, he described him as “a genius”

126. The airplane shown in the photo above was built for

C.W.Miller by Wittemann and, according to him, equipped with a Whitehead motor

127:

Other wholesalers of Whitehead motors were the President of the Pacific Aero Club and first commercial airplane builder on the US West Coast, Cleve Shaffer

128

and the international airplane and motor dealer, Geo. Lawrence, who sold Whitehead motors throughout the USA and Europe

129. So far, over 40 different Whitehead

motors have been identified130

. Parts of an eight-cylinder engine exist to this day. Whitehead’s daughter, Rose, remembered there were sometimes more orders for motors than she could hold in her hands when she fetched the mail. She also remembers her father returning more than 50 orders (including down-payments) on a single day due to overcapacity

131. There are indications of the

existence of many more Whitehead motors in the years 1902-1915. Here, research has only just begun. On October 15, 1964, Charles Wittemann made a sworn statement declaring he’d spent a week in Bridgeport, had closely examined Whitehead’s acetylene engine and found it capable of performing No.21’s August 14, 1901 flight. The weight of this testimony derives not only from Wittemann’s familiarity with the motor but also from his legal standing. Upon entry to WW1, Wittemann was appointed by US President Wilson, as America’s highest-ranking aeronautical expert. Both direct and circumstantial evidence for a powered flight by Whitehead can be summarized as follows: Evidence:

- 17 witnesses saw him in powered flight pre 1903; - 3 news reports attest to having seen a photo of

his 1901 machine in flight; Circumstantial Evidence:

- the Lilienthal wing he used was airworthy; - the US’s highest ranked aeronautical expert,

Wittemann, examined the motor and deemed it airworthy; (as did the German motor expert, Dienstbach);

- Whitehead was a trained engine-builder; - numerous pioneers used Whitehead motors; - by 1901, Whitehead had eight years‘ flight

experience; - two replicas (USA ’86 & Germany ’97) flew

successfully (albeit with modern motors, throttled for max. 16 hp output);

- Surviving photos show an airworthy machine.

125 1908-11-03, NY Sun, p.6 126 1964-10-15, Affidavit, C. Wittemanns (also on tape) 127 1910-07, “Aircraft”, p.193 128 Photo of Shaffer trade show booth with Whitehead Motor ad.

1910-01-17 in Oakland & 1910-05-11 in San Francisco. 129 1910-06, Aeronautics, p.213; 1910-07, Aircraft, pp.119, 232 & 269;

1912, Atmos L'Annuaire de L'Air, Switzerland 130 2009, Ich flog vor den Wrights, A. Wüst, 3rd edition p. 184 131 2009, Ich flog vor den Wrights, A. Wüst, 3rd edition, p. 184

At the very least, these facts support a re-evaluation of Whitehead’s place in aviation history. However, they also support the author’s (and others’

132)

conclusions that Whitehead made history’s first powered, sustained, controlled flight.

Gustave Whitehead

Opposing Views: Jan. 1,1874-Oct.10,1927 Over the years, critics have used many arguments to counter Whitehead’s claim. The first was Orville Wright who chose to comment just before the end of WW2 in a US military magazine

133.

Wright’s main argument was that, because no other newspapers reported the flight, it must have been a hoax. Using that same reasoning, the 133 articles discovered since would “prove” it to be true. Of course, they “prove” nothing, except how faulty Wrights’ argument was. Wrights’ next argument was that a “delay” of 4 days from August 14 until the story was published on August 18 1901, along with the fact it was published on page 5 (where sensational news sometimes appeared) under a drawing of witches on broomsticks, somehow “proved” it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. However, the newspaper was a weekly which published the story without delay in its next edition. [In this context, Wright overlooked the fact that he invited no journalists to attend his own first flight attempt and that the first journalist to see him and his brother fly, Amos Root, delayed 102 days and seven editions before publishing his report on page 36 of a beekeeper’s journal (under illustrations of flowers and beehives). The first time Wright invited 60 journalists to watch him and his brother fly (on May 3, 1904) they failed to get airborne for 3 days until all the journalists left, calling them “liars, not flyers”]

134. Wright also neglected to

mention that witches on broomsticks were a well-known good luck symbol among early aviators

135. The argument

was ultimately settled when the same newspaper republished the story on Jan. 23, 1937, reiterating that it had been a serious report. Wright next relied on three persons he called “witnesses”, all of whom state they weren’t present at Whitehead’s 1901 flight and two of whom didn’t even know Whitehead at the time. The first, John Dvorak, was a physics

132 Also recognized as first in flight by

Prof. J. Crane (Harvard Univ.), 1935-11-23, letter to L. Whietehad;

Prof. A. Zahm (US Library of Congress), 1945, Powerplane Fathers,

Univ. Press, p.27-36);

Jack Carpenter, biographer of Glenn Curtiss & Waldo Watermann, letter

to L. Opdycke, May 23, 1989, p.1 133 1945-08, US Air Service, p.9 134 1905-01-01,Gleanings in BeeCulture, Root, Amos I., p.36 135 1908-09, Chicago Tribune on Glenn Curtiss, illustration by Briggs

1910, Commemoration medal, Pennsylvania Aero Club 1910-2013, Logo, Pennsylvania Aero Club

professor who wrote a critical statement about Whitehead in the 1940s. However, back in 1904 Dvorak wrote a front page Op-Ed, praising Whitehead and opining that he was far ahead of all other aviation pioneers

136.

The next was James Dickie, who was identified in news reports

137 as being present together with Andrew Cellie for

unmanned test flights on June 3 1901 and again at the first flight on August 14, 1901. Dickie later claimed he never knew Cellie, although they lived a few blocks from each other

138 and that he hadn’t seen “the aircraft” fly.

Wright neglects to mention that Dickie was being shown a photo of a ground-based engine test bed at the time (and being asked if it was “the aircraft”). He also neglects to mention that Dickie had lost money he’d invested in Whitehead’s projects. Furthermore, Wright would have never known of Dickie’s statement if it hadn’t been published by Whitehead’s biographer alongside the statements of the other witnesses (whom Wright chose to ignor)e. Ultimately, if Dickie’s statement is taken on its face value, it’s a matter of weighing his statement, in which he insists he wasn’t present, against the 17 statements of other witnesses, among them three JPs, two engineers and one journalist, who say they were present and saw Whitehead fly. Wright’s most daring argument claimed that Whitehead’s former customer, Stanley Yale Beach, had signed a statement declaring that Whitehead never flew. This argument appears to have been wishful thinking at best. For, while such a statement was indeed drafted and sent to Beach shortly before Wright’s article was published, Beach never signed it. Even if he had, there’s no evidence Beach even knew Whitehead at the time. The argument’s “daringness” stems from what Beach actually did write about Whitehead. On five separate occasions Beach, as Aeronautical Editor of Scientific American, attributed successful, pre-Wright flights to Whitehead

139.

Finally, Wright neglects to mention that none of the five witnesses he cites for his own 1903 flight made any kind of sworn statement. Both the author and “Jane’s” examined arguments advanced by other critics before reaching their respective conclusions. While most arguments were disqualified (due to speculation or hearsay), the author found some of them did have varying degrees of merit. These were duly weighed against the overall body of evidence and succumbed, on balance, to the preponderance. Ultimately, the core evidence is that Whitehead, a trained engine-builder and experienced glider pilot, built 20 airplanes before building a visibly airworthy No. 21 using a Lilienthal wing. No reasonable grounds could be found for dismissing the sworn statements of all 17 witnesses who testified that they’d seen him fly.

136 1904-10-29, Bridgeport Daily Standard, p. 1 137 1901-06-09, NY Sun, p.2; 1901-07-26, Minneapolis Journal, p.7; 1901-06-15, Watertown Daily Times, p.12 138 1901. Bridgeport Directory 139 Scientific American, 1903-09-19, p.204; 190601-27, pp.93-94; 1906- 11-24, pp- 378-379; 1906-11-15, pp. 447-449; 1908-01-25, p. 54