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"My mind is made up; don't confuse me with the facts"!--Oft repeated quote   "Skepticism is the first Step towards truth." --Denis Diderot " Harry P. Moore, reporter, who "scooped the Wright story of a "first flight." "I got in touch with one of the Life Savers by telephone, and he told me that 'at last the nuts had flown. One of those fellows flew just like a bird. The two of them put gasoline in the engine in their contraption and after it glided down a hill on a wooden track, it went up. It was Orville that flew and he came down safely.'"-- Harry P. Moore, reporter Two Brothers, Three Telegrams, Only Two Attempts at Flight?  December 17,  1903, is celebrated as a milestone in flight for the whole world. It is the day that we are told the "first manned-powered-controlled-heavier-than-air-sustained flight" was made in all of history. The achievement was claimed by Orville Wright of the Wright brothers. But

"What is truth?" --Pontius Pilate One of many books that are written for our children. This one targets ages eight to 12 years. "The first flight lasted only twelve seconds, a flight very modest compared to that of birds, but it was, nevertheless, the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked." -- Orville Wright, 1908, describing his first attempt at powered flight December 17, 1903 Pages from Century magazine article, published 1908. The byline was both Orville and Wilbur Wright, but it was written by Orville. It is clear that Orville is already beginning to claim the crown as "first to fly." The quotation above was taken from this article, often referred to as the defining statement of the Wright brothers' "invention" of the airplane.