debor008

"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...

The current controversy whether Gustave Whitehead flew before the Wright brothers is hitting international news. It's time to get down to business and tackle the abuse of aviation history that has occurred from the near beginning of the twentieth century. History needs references. References need sources. If a flow chart of references was made for the currently accepted history from any reference back to the original source, a significant number of arrows would point, in the end, to the Wright brothers. Wilbur died in 1912, but Orville lived for another 36 years, dispensing more of  his interpretations of history. A proposed chart of references would need to include any publications by and through our once venerable Smithsonian Institution. Many have as their sources, the brothers Wright. An example of Orville's clouding of history is his publication that Whitehead's flights were "mythical."  ( U.S. Air Services Magazine , 1945) The problem is that the Wrights had...