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  "The Wrights are claimed to have solved the mysteries of flight," states Aviation Historian Paul Jackson; "still to be solved is the mystery of how they managed to stage the first air hijack -- of the history of aviation." Jackson's statement is the conclusion of an exceptional essay (below),  just released, regarding early aviation history, as presented by contemporary historians . Today's views have been unduly influenced by the many questionable claims of the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur. Paul Jackson is writing in his private capacity as an Aviation Historian, not his public persona as Senior Editor of one of the world's most prestigious aviation publications, "Jane's All the World's Aircraft." --ed.* Rare "close-up" photograph of the Wright  "Flyer" (III) at Kill Devil Hills, 1908. Note the inclined track  for take off, even in 1908. Without such assistance of wind and gravity, the Wrights used a cat

 "Truth is truth to the end of reckoning"- -William Shakespeare "It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen." --Homer Simpson, "The Simpsons" Kill Devil Hill, Outer Banks, North Carolina , (back side). This is the hill the Wrights used to conduct their aviation experiments and attempts at powered flight, according to their witnesses from the U. S. Life Saving Service.The Wrights declared they made their attempts at powered flight December 17, 1903, not from the hill, but from "level ground." When the Wright brothers were experimenting with flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, from 1900 through 1903, the Surfmen at Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station provided them with an enormous amount of invaluable assistance. Consequently, these men were at hand to see events as they unfolded. The precursors of the Coast Guard, they were called Surfmen or Life Savers at the time. Their most critical job was to save lives and property along t