Objekt im Museumsarchiv

18:00: Part 1 - Historical perspective: Lecture “Examination and Evaluation of competing First Flight claims by John Brown:

There are competing claims to who made the first powered flight. Santos-Dumont (1906) and Curtiss (1908) made public, expert witnessed flights. But what is the actual evidence in support of earlier claims? Until 1948, The Smithsonian claimed it was Samuel Langley (1903) before switching to the Wrights (later in 1903) and backing it up with a controversial, once-secret contract. Then there are the even earlier claims by Gustave Whitehead (1901) and others. This lecture applies evidentiary standards to examine the issue.

19:00: Part 2 - Technical perspective: “Whitehead Projects at the Munich University of Applied Sciences” by Prof Klemens Rother

There are competing claims to who made the first powered flight. Santos-Dumont (1906) and Curtiss (1908) made public, expert witnessed flights. But what is the actual evidence in support of earlier claims? Until 1948, The Smithsonian claimed it was Samuel Langley (1903) before switching to the Wrights (later in 1903) and backing it up with a controversial, once-secret contract. Then there are the even earlier claims by Gustave Whitehead (1901) and others. This lecture applies evidentiary standards to examine the issue.