The Final Conclusion To The Ongoing Debate of Who Invented The Airplane

The Conclusion To This Ongoing Debate

Controversy still rages over who invented the airplane, because it's not just a matter of who devised a craft that got off the ground but it also depends on how one defines flight.

Which of these inventions, if any, took off from the ground and stayed in the air under its own mechanical power rather than depending on the forces of nature, such as momentum or wind?

Questions started to arise as, "In order to be considered true flight, did it have to be sustained and well controlled?

Does 10 sec. in the air count as much as 10 min.?

If the machine lost power and crashed, does that count as much as a three-point landing?

Finally, based on modern-day knowledge, were any of these machines compatible with proven theories of aeronautical design?" (www.trivia-library.com)

You can see why there is still no definitive conclusion to this debate.

Clement Ader's claims are often attacked because of his lack of qualified witnesses, but the Wright Brothers in 1903 had only five witnesses, none of whom was a qualified aeronautical engineer.

But in 1903, how many qualified aeronatical engineers were in existance and who was the "expert" who passed on their knowledge. In fact, one of the Wrights' witnesses, A. W. Drinkwater, stated in an interview in the early 1950s that the Wrights had not achieved powered flight but only a powered glide in 1903.

Is Mr. Drinkwater qualified to make that type of assessment on the Wright Brother's flight?

They had launched their plane into a strong headwind, down a sand dune, using their monorail undercarriage system; all the engine did was power the plane as a glider once it was airborne.

If an engine powered the plane, once airborne, then it is not a glider. A glider has no powered engine.

Compared to this, Ader had the testimony of General Mensier of the French Army General Staff, who at one point in time stated that at Satory in 1897 Avion III took off by itself from the ground.

This conclusion is already starting to get confusing!

"Another argument against Ader is that he did not achieve sustained or controlled flight. Ader's supporters counter that any number of qualifications can be added to the definition of flight and that although Ader's machines lacked sophisticated controls and never flew great distances, they still satisfied the basic requirement of taking off under their own power." (http://www.trivia-library.com)

Later investigation showed that Ader's steam engine was a highly efficient mechanism, powerful but amazingly light. Some experts, including some of Ader's detractors, contend that his engine was far more suitable for flight than the engine used by the Wright Brothers.

Ader's proponents maintain that, although his flights were largely uncontrolled and brief, he successfully flew at least six years before the Wright Brothers, however he had no witnesses and came forward only after the Wright Brother's had successfully made their flight.

Have you made your conclusion as to who invented the airplane?

Samuel Pierpont Langley's supporters have had to refute two major arguments concerning his claim as the first person who invented the airplane.

First, that his 1896 airplane was unmanned (first UAV?)and therefore only a model, while his man-carrying plane was a failure. But his adherents assert that his machines met all requirements for controlled, lengthy flight. The manned airplane failed, not because of any inherent mechanical difficulties, but simply because of the faulty catapult. But it never got airborne, which is an important point. You can hardley draw a conclusion that this was the first airplane invented as it never got off the ground, so how do you know it was going to work?

Second, some argue that Langley's airplanes did not, and could not, use their own motive power for takeoff. Langley partisans claim that he could have ascended from the ground but was concerned with the damage that might occur on landing. It is also argued that the engine of Langley's flying machine was more than adequate enough to power a takeoff. However, once again no conclusion can be made because his invention never made it into the air.

"Even Wilbur Wright once admitted that Langley had a stronger claim than any other contender, saying Langley had provided "the first practical demonstration of the possibility of mechanical flight," and that he and his brother were influenced in their work by Langley's skills.

The Langley claim is in agreement with the Wrights' claim that Ader's aircraft never flew, but it points out that Langley's machines had achieved flight some seven years before the Wright brothers and ten years before Santos-Dumont." (http://www.trivia-library.com)

Do you have any ideas yet as to the conclusion of who invented the airplane?

A number of aviation historians assert that none of these contenders--not Langley nor the Wright brothers--were the first people to invent the airplane.

These historians agree that the Wrights' supporters are correct in their evaluations of Ader.

They also agree, amongst themselves, that Langley's unmanned, unguided, catapult-launched airplane cannot be seriously considered, and that the Wrights achieved only a powered glide in 1903.

These historians argue that Alberto Santos-Dumont on Oct. 23, 1906, became the first man to fly, and thus the first who invented the airplane.

They point out that the French government, in spite of its later patent award to the Wright Brothers, officially recognized this 1906 event as the first witnessed powered flight, in France.

So, does that make it the first powered flight? I don't buy that. Just because a country recognized the achievements of one man does not mean that the event did not happen earlier in a different country.

Unlike the case with the other claimants, no aeronautics experts dispute the fact that Santos-Dumont's flight met all the necessary definitions and criteria.

That would make him the father of the airplane, if his flight had occured 3 years earlier.

"Supporters of Orville and Wilbur Wright deny that Ader flew in 1890, in 1891, or in 1897. They underscore the fact that Ader did not press his claims until 1906, when the Wrights were already acknowledged as the first who invented the airplane.

Only after Ader could not officially prove that he flew in 1897, since his witnesses disagreed as to whether Avion III actually became airborne or simply made short hops off the ground when it was buffeted by crosswinds, did he assert that he had also flown in 1890 and 1891. He named dates and places but could not produce witnesses." (http://www.trivia-library.com)

Pro-Wright authorities also contend that Ader's craft lacked the proper aerial design for sustained and controlled flight.

Even if his engine could launch the craft, that did not constitute flying, for a sky-rocket powered by gunpowder could do the same.

It was not until the Wrights took off in an aeronautically feasible craft, with its well-designed stabilizers and wings, that man flew for the first time, they assert.

And in spite of the fact that there were no public or formal demonstrations, Orville and Wilbur had so well mastered aviation that by the fall of 1905 they could claim flights lasting half an hour covering distances of up to 24 mi.

Once again this is before Santos-Dumont even got in the air.

"As further proof to this conclusion, there are the patents awarded by a French patent court in 1911 and an American patent court in 1914, which named the brothers as the ones who invented the airplane.

Charles Dollfus, honorary curator of the Paris Air Museum, who was assigned by the French government to examine Ader's papers after his death, stated categorically: "Ader did not fly for a single instant at Satory in the course of the tests of ... 1897."

And, finally, the Wrights went on to prove their claims by perfecting the airplane and producing it commercially." (http://www.trivia-library.com)

After reading all the evidence, can you make an informed conclusion as to who invented the airplane?

In school we are taught that it was the Wright Brothers who invented the airplane.

However, there is compelling evidence out there to suggest that, in fact, it was someone else who invented the airplane.

I guess that once an unbiased individual decides what constituted powered flight in the late 1800's and early 1900's we will be better informed to make a conclusion as to who invented the airplane.

Source for Information: http://www.trivia-library.com/

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