The Wright-Smithsonian contract may have prevented official recognition of an earlier flight than the Wright brothers

The leading technical-scientific institution in the USA, the Smithsonian, did not recognise the Wrights as the first powered aviators until 1942. Instead, it promoted their former secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, who had made attempts with his "Aerodrome" in 1903, as the first powered aviator.

It was not until 1942 that the Smithsonian revised its stance. The background to this was that Orville had indicated that he would leave the original Kitty Hawk glider to the museum. In 1928, he had temporarily given the historic glider to the London Science Museum out of annoyance with the Smithsonian. But Orville set conditions: The Smithsonian had to commit forever to the fact that the Wrights had succeeded in the first controlled powered flight in history with this Flyer.

Not surprisingly, some researchers see this "gagging agreement" as a major reason for ignoring other possible candidates for the first powered flight, especially Gustav Weisskopf (Whitehead), who may have flown two years before the Wrights.