Rick Perales, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, has introduced a bill — HCR 63 — which repudiates a Connecticut law that claims the Wright brothers were not the first to fly in a powered flying machine.
The on-going flight of the actual birthplace of aviation — Dayton, Ohio, or Kill Devil Hills, N.C. — got even murkier last year when Connecticut’s governor signed an act that claims Connecticut resident, Gustave Whitehead, was first in flight.
According to officials at the National Aviation Heritage Alliance in Dayton, the Connecticut law cites no factual evidence to support its claim, and it ignores mountains of contradicting evidence, including a statement signed by 34 historians, archivists, authors and others that said the available evidence “fails to support the claim that Gustave Whitehead made sustained, powered, controlled flights prior to the Wright brothers.”
NAHA officials add they are supporting Perales’ bill.
“It might seem frivolous to respond to such an insubstantial claim, but the widespread, uncritical and sometimes favorable press coverage Connecticut’s legislation generated demands it,” NAHA officials said in a statement released Dec. 20. “Ohio’s aviation heritage as the birthplace of powered flight is recognized worldwide and based on richly documented evidence.”
NAHA officials acknowledge that it’s a heritage Ohio shares with North Carolina, where the Wright brothers experimented with gliders before making their first powered flights at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, 1903.
“Not simply for its own reputation but to defend the historical record, Ohio has a duty to answer challenges to it, as North Carolina has done in prior years,” NAHA officials conclude.
You’re welcome to believe that the Wright Brothers were the first to fly powered aircraft.
What you don’t have is PROOF that the Wright Brothers were the first to fly powered, fixed-wing aircraft, and there are several other good candidates for the award (Whitehead, Gilmore, Montgomery, etc) who had been involved with aviation long before the Wrights became interested.
I find it telling that they never moved beyond the most primitive design. Even more so is that the Flyer couldn’t get off the ground without the “tower” catapult system to get it moving, and had to have a strong headwind. In other words, they had a tow-launched glider with a “sustainer” engine, that was able to make “crow hops.” It was years before they were actually able to fly in a circle.
If it were true powered flight, the Flyer could have flown until the gas ran out, instead of drifting in ground effect, engine roaring, until the airspeed dropped off 100 feet later.
The brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio made the first of four powered flights in a manned aircraft beginning at about 10:30 local time near the village of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina on Thursday, 17 December 1903. These flights were made in freezing temperatures and a 27 mph wind. These are the facts. These are truths. They are irrefutable and unbreakable. Period. End of statement. Deal with it!
This seems silly on the face of it. Why would a state government, a Connecticut Yankee government, over 100 years after the fact actually go to the trouble to concoct a bill and have its governor sign it that purports to disavow what history long ago clearly established as fact without providing any substantiating evidence to support its claim. The mental disease of liberalism seems to manifest itself in ways other than purely political.
I’m not sure what it has to do with liberalism, I’m not sure why folks like to throw that term (or “conservatives”) into every comment. I am pretty sure the intent of the law was to encourage state marketing and tourism, probably in response to pressure from local constituents, and maybe even a hefty campaign donation. Democracy at work. Things like this get passed all the time, it is for show only. Example: how many times did the House vote to repeal the ACA, 50 or 60 times? Most of politics is a dog and pony show and it isn’t restricted to just one party or philosophy.
Just goes to prove that senators and representatives should have educational background checks, National Driver Registry (NDR) and random drug testing every six months just like pilots do!
How ’bout every 6 days?