Gizmorama: Life in the Tech Age

FIRST FLIGHT?

Every so often somebody makes a claim that causes North Carolinans to shudder about the slogan on their license plate: "First in Flight."

Frankly, we think the title is secure because the Wright Brothers were careful to document and photograph their successes and even use that new media, the motion picture, to chronicle their efforts. Nobody else, as far as we know, has offered such tangible proof. But anytime a "first" is at stake, there always are some who claim, after the fact, to be contenders.

For instance, we read recently of a Texan named Rev. Berrell Cannon who supposedly flew a powered airship one Sunday morning sometime around 1901. Cannon's "Ezekiel Airship," named for the contraption described in the Bible, looks like a primitive dirigible, with air compartments and a single engine driving a propeller. Some witnesses claim the thing actually flew over a fence, but the claim lacks any other kind of documentation. You can learn more about Cannon's airship at pittsburgtxmuseum.com/airship.html.

Further online research suggests no fewer than FIVE instances of powered flight before the Wrights, including one that goes back nearly 50 years before. There was Preston Watson, the first "Flying Scot," built an aircraft around the same time as the Wrights. There was Richard William Pearse, a New Zealander, also working with flying machines circa 1903 and reported to have achieved a powered flight in March, nearly nine months earlier than the Kitty Hawk, N.C., event.

One of the strongest cases can be made for Gustave Whitehead, a Connecticut Yankee, who, it was reported, flew a birdlike monoplane nearly half a mile on Aug. 14, 1901, two years, four months and three days before the Wrights' successful flight. There were accounts of the flight in the Bridgeport Herald, the New York Herald and the Boston Transcript -- but no photos.

Two others, a Frenchman named Clément Ader in 1890 and an Englishman named John Stringfellow -- in 1848 -- also claimed to have achieved powered flight. Once again, however, no documentation is available.

You can find out more about these five contenders at aopa.ch/xeole.htm.

Interesting stuff, but we don't think North Carolina's license plate factory will need to be tooling up for "Sixth In Flight" anytime soon.

(Questions? Comments? Let them land at ideas@Gizmorama.org)