The invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright is one of the greatest historic events

Claim

Name

Description

The 1903 Wright Flyer made four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, the best covering 852 feet (284 meters) in 59 seconds. It was the first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft to make a sustained, controlled flight with a pilot aboard.

Types

Claim

Opposing arguments

Wright brothers had only 5 witnesses to their early accomplishment because it was not a public event.

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

Santos Dumont’s flight was the first public flight in the world

George Bolt claims that Richard Pearse flew an airplane in 1903 before the Wright brothers

Richard Pearse stated: "After Langley's failure in 1903 I was still of the opinion that aerial navigation was possible, and I started out to solve the problem about March, 1904. The Wrights started at about the same time."

Biographer Gordon Ogilvie claimed that Richard Pearse flew on March 1903, months before Wright brothers.

Sources

First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Supporting arguments