History by Contract
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''History by Contract'' is a 1978 book by early aviation researchers Major William J. O'Dwyer,
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(ret.) and Stella Randolph about aviation pioneer
Gustave Whitehead Gustave Albin Whitehead (born Gustav Albin Weisskopf; 1 January 1874 – 10 October 1927) was an aviation pioneer who emigrated from Germany to the United States where he designed and built gliders, flying machines, and engines between 1897 an ...
. The book focuses on a 1948 agreement between the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
and the estate of Orville Wright, which stipulates that the Smithsonian, as a condition of owning and displaying the 1903 ''
Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...
'', must recognize and label it as the first heavier-than-air machine to make a manned, powered, controlled and sustained flight. The authors of the book offer evidence which they assert shows that the Smithsonian deliberately ignored Whitehead's aeronautical work in order not to violate the agreement with the Wright estate. The net result, they allege, made Whitehead a virtual nonentity in aviation history."Delear, Frank
" Gustave Whitehead and the First-Flight Controversy."
''History Net,'' June 12, 2006. (originally published in ''Aviation History'', March 1996.) Retrieved: July, 2012.
They and other researchers argue that Whitehead made the first successful airplane flight in August 1901, predating the Wright brothers by more than two years. ''History By Contract'' reviews evidence and material available in two earlier books about Whitehead by Randolph and added statements and affidavits from self-described witnesses to Whitehead flights. O'Dwyer alleged that secrecy and denial by the Smithsonian kept the agreement with the Wright estate from public knowledge for years. He obtained a copy of the agreement in 1976 with help of then-Senator
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. The Smithsonian has said the agreement was put in place not to hide Whitehead's aviation experiments, but to prevent re-occurrence of a mistaken emphasis by the Smithsonian on the 1903
Langley Aerodrome The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned, tandem wing-configuration powered flying machine, designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S. Army paid $50,000 for the ...
, which the Institution wrongly identified for years as the first airplane "capable" of flight, even though it had not actually flown when Langley's workers tested it.Smithsonian releases Wright brothers contract detailing 'first in flight' claims http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/01/contract-forcing-smithsonian-to-call-wright-bros-first-in-flight/ The Smithsonian based its claim on test flights of the heavily modified Aerodrome in 1914 by
Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...
and his team.


History behind the agreement

The agreement ended a bitter feud that existed between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian over credit for developing the first man-carrying airplane to achieve controlled, sustained powered flight. After short test flights of the heavily modified
Langley Aerodrome The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned, tandem wing-configuration powered flying machine, designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S. Army paid $50,000 for the ...
by
Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...
in 1914, the Smithsonian claimed that the Aerodrome, created by former Smithsonian Secretary
Samuel Langley Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of astronomy a ...
and unsuccessfully tested shortly before the 1903 Kitty Hawk flights, was "the first man-carrying airplane in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight," according to the plaque displayed with the Aerodrome. Orville believed that claim "perverted" the history of flying machines and refused to donate the 1903 ''Kitty Hawk Flyer'' to the Smithsonian, loaning it instead to the
Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...
in 1928. When the Smithsonian recanted its claim in 1942, Orville agreed to have the ''Flyer'' returned to the United States. The airplane remained in protective storage in Britain during World War II and was not returned to the U.S. until 1948, when the agreement was signed by Orville Wright's executors following his death. Critics of the agreement contend that it is a conflict of interest that continues to interfere with the Smithsonian's willingness to research and recognize anyone who might have made successful powered flights before December 17, 1903.'The Who Flew First' Debate, O'Dwyer, Flight Journal (1998) http://cdn6.flightjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/whitehead.pdf?83a8bd The controversy reignited in 2013 when ''
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'' editorialized that Whitehead, not the Wright brothers, was first to make a successful airplane flight. A month later, however, ''Jane's'' stated that the editorial reflected the opinion of the editorialist and not ''Jane's''. In response to resulting negative publicity about the agreement,
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
senior curator Tom Crouch issued a statement, which said: "The contract remains in force today, a healthy reminder of a less than exemplary moment in Smithsonian history. Over the years individuals who argue for other claimants to the honor of having made the first flight have claimed that the contract is secret. It is not. I have sent many copies upon request. Critics have also charged that no Smithsonian staff member would ever be willing to entertain such a possibility and risk losing a national treasure. I can only hope that, should persuasive evidence for a prior flight be presented, my colleagues and I would have the courage and the honesty to admit the new evidence and risk the loss of the Wright Flyer."


See also

*
Gustave Whitehead Gustave Albin Whitehead (born Gustav Albin Weisskopf; 1 January 1874 – 10 October 1927) was an aviation pioneer who emigrated from Germany to the United States where he designed and built gliders, flying machines, and engines between 1897 an ...
*
Early flight ''Early Flight'' is a 1974 compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released as Grunt CYL1-0437. It features previously unreleased material from 1966, 1967, and 1970 as well as both sides of a non-album 1970 sin ...
*
Timeline of aviation A timeline is a display of a list of events in Chronology, chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with calendar date, dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any ...
*
Aviation history The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets. Kite flying in China ...
*
List of years in aviation A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Brinchman, Susan O'Dwyer. ''Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight.'' San Diego, CA: Apex Educational Media, 2015 * O'Dwyer, Major William J. ''History by Contract''. Leutershausen, Germany: Fritz Majer & Sohn, 1978. . * Randolph, Stella. ''Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead.'' New York: Places, Inc., 1937. * Randolph, Stella. ''The Story of Gustave Whitehead, Before the Wrights Flew''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1966.


External links

{{commons, Gustave Whitehead * Wright/Smithsonian Agreement pd

History of aviation Aviation books 1978 non-fiction books Wright brothers Smithsonian Institution