Pick up your pencils and paper

Class, today we are going to have a pop quiz.

 

It consists of only 3 questions;

1- Who was the first to build and fly an airplane and make the first controlled, powered and heavier-than-air flight

 

2- Who was the first person to fly an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

3- What happened on July 4 1776 

If you answered

The Wright Brothers

 Charles Lindbergh

and The Declaration of Independence was signed.

 

 You are WRONG, WRONG, and WRONG.

Consider yourself a "low information senior."

The correct answers are:

1- Gustave Whitehead

The main reason he got no credit was because there were no pictures of his flight.

The Smithsonian in Washington helped spread the myth that the Wright Brothers were the first. That museum wanted the Wright's airplane for its museum very badly....but Orville and Wilbur insisted that they labeled it "The First in Flight." The museum knew that wasn't true, but finally acquiesced .

The litigious Wrights actually delayed the advancement of the airplane for about 6 years because of their repeated law suits claiming infringement of patents.

Also, Gustave was a German immigrant...and they were NOT popular leading up to our involvement in World War One.

Gustave Whitehead and his plane

The aviation event for which Whitehead is now best-known  took place in Fairfield  Connecticut.  The Bridgeport Herald newspaper said Whitehead piloted his aircraft in a controlled powered flight for about half a mile up to 50 feet (15 m) high and landed safely. The feat preceded the  Wright Brothers by more than two years and exceeded their best 1903 Kitty Hawk flight, which covered 852 feet (260 m) at a height of about 10 feet (3.0 m).

2- At least 83 or so others flew across the Atlantic Ocean before Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh

Many people think that Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean. But that’s not true.
In 1919, six U.S. Navy fliers crossed the ocean, stopping once in the Azores Islands. Later that year, two Englishmen flew across the ocean without stopping.
In all, 78 people crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane before Charles Lindbergh did it in 1927.
Then why did Lindbergh become famous? Because he was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. He took off from Long Island, near New York City, and landed near Paris, France, after being in the air for 331/2 hours. Lindbergh covered 3,610 miles by himself!


3- Answer: Not much of anything.

 The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2, 1776.

John Adams wrote his wife Abigail that

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.^[6]


That's our lesson for today class. Tomorrow we will discuss the American Revolution and the reasons behind the fact that everyone knows about the crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Bunker Hill but no one (but our class) ever heard of the battles of Cow Pens, or Kings Mountain.   -Ed