"Were the Wright Brothers the first to fly a powered airplane?"

Matthew Schoenemann                                                                                                                  

Mr. Mullins

6th Grade English
6/3/2015

In 1903, the Wright Brothers were the first to fly a manned, powered, controlled, heavier-than-air, air-craft.  Or were they? This paper is going to talk about the Wright Brothers "First in flight" claim and a challenger to that claim.

The Wright brothers were four years apart in age, yet were very close.  Wilbur Wright once said, "From the time we were little children, my brother Orville and myself lived together, played together, worked together and, in fact, thought together." (Freedman pg.3)  Destined to be inventors, they built sleds, kites, and even a printing press.  When they grew up, their life long job was a bike shop, called the "Wright Cycle Co."

A few years after the shop opened they started experimenting with gliders.  Then in 1903, they added an engine to one of their gliders and flew a powered air-plane, called the Wright Flyer 1.  They didn't want to be credited for the "first flight", which was a hot-air balloon in the 18th century.  They wanted to be credited with the first sustained, controlled, manned, powered, flight. 

There are several items that seem to support this claim.  A picture (Freedman, front cover) was taken of the plane taking off with Wilbur piloting, and Orville on the ground.  The person who took the picture can be counted as a witness.  And the picture shows that they actually got off the ground. 

One person built a replica of the Flyer 1 and it only flew 115 feet. The Wright bros. said they flew 852 feet, which the replica could not duplicate.  But you have to remember that the Wright brothers were in Kitty Hawk.  And for good reason, it is a very windy area, and would help their flight.  

One person who claims to have flown before the Wright brothers is Gustave Whitehead.  Born in Germany, he immigrated to the United States around 1894.  He was also a destined inventor.  As a boy, he showed interest in flight.  His experimenting with kites earned the nickname "The Flyer."  Whitehead supposedly flew a plane in 1901.  But there really isn't any evidence to support this.  We know his plane existed because there is a picture of him next to the air-craft.  And we have pictures of him testing gliders.  One thing that doesn't make any sense is that if he had a successful powered air-craft you'd think he would have improved on it.  But instead he made more gliders.  Some people claim there is a picture that proves that he flew.  The picture is really grainy, because it is blown up 3,500 percent. It basically is a picture of the sky with a shadow in it. (Picture from cnn.com)  Many people, who support Whitehead's case, even say that the Wright bros. were much more successful.

Based on my research I believe that because there is insufficient evidence to support Whitehead's case, that the Wright Bros. were first.  But whoever was first, only 15 years later planes played a major part in World War 1.

Works Cited

www.cnn.com/2013/06/07/travel/wright-brothers-first-flight-fight  

Freedman, Russell   The Wright Brothers: How They Invented The Airplane

            1991 Russell Freedman