Skip to main content
Skeptics

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

13
  • 1
    @Alister I ran across his name more than once, but for the sake of my own limited grey matter, I tried to aim my question toward Whitehead, but if you've got credible evidence for Pearse, I welcome it it. I wanted to title the question "Did Whitehead beat the Wrights to flight?" but chose the wording because if credible evidence can be provided for the likes of Pearse or others, I believe it would be valid. Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 6:16
  • 2
    @Fake Name cannonballs, human or otherwise not included Commented Jun 18, 2011 at 5:04
  • 1
    @Monkey, you did all the research that the answer would be. :( Basically, the crux of the argument is that none of the other contenders to the first powered flight title offered corroborating or substantiating data. Sadly, if Fuax Noise or CNN from today were to report on it, the entire history would be obfuscated by the sensationalism... The only "evidence" (which is not credible) is Whitehead's hearsay. Commented Jun 18, 2011 at 23:10
  • 1
    @Larian actually, funny you should mention that, this question came out of some research I was doing into inaccuracy/lack of proper evidence and bias in media reports. Commented Jun 19, 2011 at 18:08
  • 1
    The Wright brothers were the first to have achieved, controlled, powered, flight while witnessed by independent observers. Any other claimants miss one or more of those components (especially the independent observers). Commented Jun 20, 2011 at 8:08