On 16 Nov 2004 13:59:35 -0800, Nmm wrote:
"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
On 2004-11-13, Nmm wrote:


You might Also want to look into Santos Dumont, a Brasilian that flew
a motorized plane around Paris, two years before the Wright brothers
at Kitty Hawk.

Really? I was under the impression that he flew planes in Paris beginning in
about 1906, or three years after the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk, and that
what he was piloting around Paris in 1901 or so was a lighter-than-air
craft, aka a dirigible.

Am I wrong?

Peace,
Paul


No sorry i was slightly wrong in this one.

The argument is that the first Kitty Hawk flight was done in secret,
and the glider was shot off a catapult over the side of a hill.


The gliders were the prototype for the 1903 powered flyer.

Early in the history, there were a number of patent disputes that were
eventually decided in the Wright's favor. Europe never recognized the
Wrights patents for various pre-WWI political reasons--recall that
Europe at the time wasn't exactly the most stable region, being as it
was about halfway between Bismarck and Wilhelm.