The Wright Brothers were the first to achieve sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air manned flight in 1903, the longest of four covering 852 feet (260 m). Several other aviators have claimed to be the first to fly a powered airplane. Much controversy surrounds these claims.

In Brazil, the native citizen Alberto Santos-Dumont is taught as the inventor of the airplane, with his flights of 60 meters and 220 meters in 1906 fully documented in France. In 2013 the Connecticut, US, legislature adopted a bill naming Gustave Whitehead as the first to fly, a claim he made in 1901, later challenged by profound problems of documentation and contradictory witness statements.

Controversy In judging claims of who was first to fly a winged aircraft, the generally accepted requirements are for sustained powered and controlled flight. The Wright brothers satisfied this claim and more because of their intensive study of aerodynamics, their laborious investment in prototype experiments, their custom engine which had a respectable power-to-weight ratio for the time, and especially for their ability to sustain and control the flight in three axes, even though their wing warping method would soon be surpassed by fixed ailerons. Their 1903 flight of 852 feet (260 m) over the ground involved a half mile (800 m) of moving air, which put them significantly beyond the previous powered hops. The Wright brothers' claim is sometimes challenged because their flight on December 17, 1903, was not officially witnessed, and because their airplane, the Wright Flyer, used a rail for takeoff. An editorial in the 2013 edition of Janes All the World's Aircraft said Gustave Whitehead made the first airplane flight in 1901, a claim asserted in a bill adopted by the Connecticut legislature in 2013. A claim of first flight by Clément Ader in France has been made. In 1890, Ader made a brief uncontrolled and unsustained "hop" in his Éole, but such a hop is not regarded as true flight. His later claim of a more extended flight was debunked in 1910 when the official report on his work was finally published.

The ability to take off unaided is also sometimes regarded as necessary, while the minimum necessary distance flown to qualify is a subject of contention. Air historian Charles Gibbs-Smith defined moving through a quarter mile of air as the standard, putting the Wright brothers squarely in first place, but also said that, "The criteria of powered flight must remain to some extent a matter of opinion."Gibbs-Smith (1959)

Claims Several aviators or their supporters have laid claim to the first manned flight in a powered airplane. Claims that have received significant attention include: Clément Ader in the Avion III (1897) Gustave Whitehead in his No's. 21 and 22 airplanes (1901–1903) Samuel Pierpont Langley's Aerodrome A (1903) Alberto Santos-Dumont in the 14-bis (1901–1906)

Other notable claims include: Karl Jatho, in Germany in his biplane (1903) Richard Pearse, in New Zealand in his monoplane (1903–1904) Trajan Vuia, in France (1906) Jacob Ellehammer, in Denmark (1906)

History

Antecedents

Some notable powered hops were made before the problem of powered flight was finally solved.

In 1874, Félix du Temple built a steam-powered airplane which took off from a ramp with a sailor on board and remained airborne for a short distance. This has sometimes been claimed as the first powered flight in history, but the claim is generally rejected because takeoff was gravity-assisted and flight was not sustained. It is however credited as the first powered takeoff in history.Wragg (1974)Angelucci & Marticardi (1977), Pages 16, 21.

Ten years later in 1884, the Russian Alexander Mozhaysky achieved similar success, launching his craft from a ramp and remaining airborne for . The claim that this was a sustained flight has not been taken seriously outside Russia.

The 1901 Drachenflieger of Wilhelm Kress was a triple-tandem winged floatplane. It had been inspired by Samuel Pierpoint Langley's experiments and, like his later designs, was powered by an internal combustion engine. It demonstrated good control when taxiing, but was too underpowered and failed to take off.

The period of claimed flights

Few of the claims to powered flight were widely accepted, or even made, at the time the events took place. The Wrights suffered in their early years from a lack of general recognition, while neither Ader nor Langley made any claim in the years immediately following their work. Indeed, Langley died in 1906 without ever making any claim of success.

The pioneer Octave Chanute promoted the Wrights' work, some of which he witnessed, in the United States and Europe. The brothers began to gain recognition in Britain, where Colonel John Edward Capper was taking charge of Army aeronautical work. On a visit to the U.S. in 1904, Capper befriended the Wrights and subsequently helped foster their early recognition. He also visited Langley, who openly discussed his failure with Capper.Walker (1974)

In 1906, the U.S. Army rejected a proposal from the Wrights on the basis that their machine's ability to fly had not been demonstrated. Thus, when Alberto Santos-Dumont made a brief flight that year in his 14-bis airplane, there was no acknowledged antecedent and he was acclaimed in France and elsewhere as the first to fly. Ader responded by claiming that he had flown in his Avion III back in 1897.

Claims and recognition Santos-Dumont's 1906 claim to flight has never been seriously disputed, although few authorities credit his as the first, while some have questioned the effectiveness of his controls.

In 1908, the Wrights embarked on a series of public flights with versions of their much improved Flyer. Orville flew demonstrations for the U.S. Army, and Wilbur gave demonstrations in France and Italy.

In the U.S., the Smithsonian Institution under its secretary Charles Walcott refused to give credit to the Wright Brothers for the first powered, controlled flight of an airplane. Instead, they honored the former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, whose 1903 tests of his Aerodrome on the Potomac were not successful. In 1914, Glenn Curtiss had recently exhausted the appeal process in a patent infringement legal battle with the Wrights. Curtiss sought to prove Langley's machine, which failed piloted tests nine days before the Wrights' successful flight in 1903.

The Aerodrome was removed from exhibit at the Smithsonian and prepared for flight at Keuka Lake, New York. Curtiss called the preparations "restoration", claiming that the only addition to the design was pontoons to support testing on the lake, but critics including patent attorney Griffith Brewer called them alterations of the original design. Curtiss flew the modified Aerodrome, hopping a few feet off the surface of the lake for 5 seconds at a time.

The Smithsonian used this as the basis for a claim that the Aerodrome was the first plane "capable of flight". Orville, the surviving Wright brother, began a long and bitter public relations battle to force recognition of their claim. Unsuccessful, in 1928 he sent the historic Flyer for display in the British Science Museum in London. He prevailed in 1942, when the Smithsonian under its new secretary, Charles Abbot, admitted to Curtiss' modifications and withdrew its claim for the Aerodrome.Crouch, T.; The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Norton 2003.

Meanwhile, with the publication of a coauthored article and a book by the journalist Stella Randolph, Whitehead had also begun to gain vocal advocates. In 1945, Orville Wright issued a critique of the evidence for Whitehead.

Orville Wright died on January 30, 1948. As part of the Smithsonian's final deal with his executors, the Flyer was returned to the United States and put on display. A clause in the contract required the Smithsonian to claim primacy for the Wrights, on pain of losing the prize exhibit.

Whitehead's advocates have fought an equally bitter battle with the Smithsonian in an attempt to gain recognition, in which the Smithsonian's contract with the Wright estate has been subject to heavy criticism. Although Whitehead's advocates have gained some following, they remain a small minority.

As of the 21st century, it is generally accepted that the Wright brothers were the first to make sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flights. Many in Brazil regard Santos-Dumont as the first successful aviator.

Ader

Following his hop in the Éole, Clément Ader obtained funding from the French Ministry for War. He built two more machines: the Avion II and in 1897 the similar but larger Avion III. Neither was able to leave the ground at all.

Several years later in 1906, following Blériot's first successful flights Ader claimed publicly that his Éole had flown for in 1891, and that the Avion III had flown for 1,000 ft on the second day of its trials.

Ader's claim for the Avion III was refuted four years later in 1910, when the French Ministry for War finally published its report on his work. His claim for the Éole also collapsed through lack of credibility.

Whitehead

When Gustav Weisskopf immigrated to the United States, he changed his name to Gustave Whitehead. He began an extensive series of experiments with gliders, aero engines and motorized flying machines, which many claimed were successful powered airplane flights.

Louis Darvarich, a friend of Whitehead, said they flew together in a steam-powered machine in 1899 and crashed into the side of a building in their path.Weissenborn, G.K.; "Did Whitehead fly?", Air Enthusiast 35, Pilot Press (1988), Pages 19-21 and 74-75. The Bridgeport Herald newspaper reported that on August 14, 1901, Whitehead flew his No. 21 monoplane to a height of and could steer it a little by shifting his weight to the left or right. Whitehead wrote letters to a magazine, saying that in 1902 he made two flights in his No. 22 machine, including a circle, steering with a combination of the rudder and variable speeds of the two propellers.

Controversy after 1903

Stanley Beach was a friend of Whitehead, sharing a patent application with him in 1905. Beach's father was editor of Scientific American, which was initially sympathetic to Whitehead and included a number of reports of short flights by Whitehead.Scientific American, September 19, 1903, p. 204Sci. American, January 27, 1906"Santos Dumont's Latest Flight", Scientific American, November 24, 1906, p. 378"The Second Annual Exhibition of the Aero Club of America", Scientific American, December 15, 1906, p. 448-449Scientific American, January 25, 1908 Beach and Whitehead disagreed and, then editor of the Scientific American, Beach denied that Whitehead ever flew.

Whitehead's claims were not taken seriously until two journalists, Stella Randolph and Harvey Phillips, wrote an article in a 1935 edition of Popular Aviation journal. Harvard University economics professor John B. Crane responded with a rebuttal, published in National Aeronautic Magazine in December 1936. The next year Randolph expanded the article, together with additional research, into a book titled Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead. Crane changed his mind in 1938 and suggested that a Congressional investigation should consider the claims. By 1945, Orville Wright was sufficiently concerned about the Whitehead claims that he issued his own rebuttal in US Air Services. Then in 1949 Crane published a new article in Air Affairs magazine that supported Whitehead.

O'Dwyer and Randolph claims Following a chance discovery in 1963, reserve U.S. Air Force major William O'Dwyer was asked to research Whitehead's claims. He became convinced that Whitehead did fly and contributed research material to a second book by Stella Randolph, The Story of Gustave Whitehead, Before the Wrights Flew, published in 1966.