NY Times Enters Debate Of Whitehead's First In Flight Claim For Connecticut

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. -- The New York Times is finally giving the proper attention to Gustave Whitehead, a former Bridgeport resident who has long been pushed to the shadows of aviation history. In the process, the flames in the debate of who really was first in flight have been stoked once again.

The New York Times recently highlighted Gustave Whitehead, who may have conducted the first powered flight two years before the Wright brothers.
Photo Credit: *Wikimedia Commons*

Joe Jenkins

04/17/2015 10:00 a.m.

Conventional wisdom, and most history books, still claim that Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled flight in North Carolina in 1903. But in 2013o, IHS Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, a trade publication, said it was, in fact, Whitehead who was the first to fly. And he did it a full two years ahead of the Wright brothers.

Since then, the Nutmeg State has sprung into action, challenging claims from both Ohio (the birthplace of the Wright brothers) and North Carolina as first in flight, the Times said.

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