Those Magnificent Flying Machines/Analysis

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


In-depth discussions and controversies about the trope and real-life issues related to it should go here, rather than the main page, so as to avoid natter.

Controversy surrounding the Wright Brothers' claim

  • Even if the description of the Wrights' "first heavier-than-air flight" is refined to 'manned and powered' heavier-than-air flight, it still leaves much room for debate. Suffice to say that many people and groups of people tried many different things and the lines between actual flight, gliding and short hops were not always clear. The Wrights may in fact only be able to claim having the first extensively recorded example of the narrowed category above... but that is also debated.
  • While the Wright Brothers' twelve second flight is the most famous, they actually made four flights that day, with the longest lasting a full 59 seconds. While the first "flight" may be debatable, the last one certainly counted as a controlled flight. They had also refined their design to be practical by 1905 (practical here meaning that it flew until fuel ran out. Meanwhile, Santos-Dumont, who made the first flight in Europe (and who is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the "true father of flight"), did not fly until 1906.
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