The History of the Langley Aerodrome: Truth and Deception

Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley's 1903 Aerodrome 

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The saga of a pioneer plane--and

the controversy surrounding its history 

Professor Langley

The Langley Aerodrome, front wings in place, preparing for a launch.

The Background

In the fall of 1903, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley, attempted to launch a heavier than air, man-carrying, powered plane. The launch failed, as did a subsequent attempt; and his machine, christened the “Aerodrome,” ignominiously fell into the river. Only days after Langley’s second try, the Wright brothers claimed that they successfully flew their own powered plane at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

We are embarking on a parallel blog to "Truth in Aviation History"  in which we will search for the truth about the Langley/Wright story. The link will be provided. An examination of the current "history" must obviously include a look at the constant revisions of so-called "facts" by aviation historians, based on assertions by Wright historians and Orville and Wilbur Wright. The reader will see how the facts were manipulated to distort the history of what really happened.

We will look at the scientists, aviators, and witnesses, who were accused by Orville Wright of fraud and misrepresentation about the Langley plane.  We will analyze the Wright-oriented propaganda about the the Langley history as it stands today.

The Langley Aerodrome, all wings in place, on its launch pad in 1903

Why the Langley Story is Important

In 1914, with the backing of the Smithsonian Institution, aviator Glenn Curtiss successfully reconstructed and flew the original Langley Aerodrome in Hammondsport, New York. Scientists claimed that these tests proved that the Langley plane was able to fly and thus antedated the Wrights' claim that theirs was the first with this capability. Not surprisingly, Orville Wright attacked Curtiss’s 1914 tests, asserting they were successful only because of modifications Curtiss made to Langley's 1903 design.

In 1942, Secretary Charles Greeley Abbot of the Smithsonian Institution finally caved in to Orville Wright's demands and published an article listing Curtiss's modifications to the Langley Aerodrome. However, although Abbot's essay originally included reasons and references for these modifications, the published version was essentially re-written by Wright and his biographer, Fred Kelly, who insisted on removing this critical contextual information. 

As a result of the Wright/Kelly essay, published by the Smithsonian, the factual history of the Langley Aerodrome was discarded in favor of Wright's propaganda. Since then, there appear to have been no critical checks and balances of Orville's version of the Langley story, nor of historians' subsequent interpretations. Orville Wright's victory unjustly discredited Professor Langley and his contributions to aviation, as well as the reputations of aviation pioneers such as Glenn Curtiss, Dr. Albert Francis Zahm, Smithsonian Secretary Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott, and Charles Manly. 
 

With no fair oversight, the history of the Langley Aerodrome has run amok. There are so many provable inventions, untruths, and outright lies about the Aerodrome that one would need to write an over sized book to sort them out. In this new blog, we will begin this daunting task.

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Click on "Another Truth in Aviation History" for the link to the new blog.