debor008

"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 we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out." - Bertrand Russell                     "Only a fool of a scientist would dismiss the evidence and reports                      in front of him and substitute his own beliefs in their place."                                                  - Paul Kurtz     The cover of Boys' Life magazine Sept., 1914  Historians and the public, who want to believe the Wrights were first to fly, have many excuses for  inconsistencies in witness's descriptions of` what happened at Kill Devil Hills, N.C.,  Dec.14-17, 1903--and indeed...

..."Was the first Wright flight of December 17, 1903 (120 feet) sustained? Probably not...." -- Tom Crouch  Were the Wright brothers the first to fly as we've been taught in our  public schools? Orville Wright claimed that they made four actual flights on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. On December 14 Wilbur failed in the first attempt to fly  He had won the coin toss for the first trial but he quickly lost control of the plane and it crashed. After repairing the plane, they decided to try again on the cold, windy day of December 17. Since Wilbur got the first shot on the 14th, it was Orville's turn to try first. These are the flights he claimed they made: 1. Orville-- estimated 120 feet (100 feet beyond the track)--12 seconds 2. Wilbur--estimated 175 feet--13 seconds 3. Orville--estimated 200 feet--15 seconds 4. Wilbur --measured 852 feet--59 seconds But did they really fly? Below is the opinion of Tom Crouch, Senior Curator o...