View Comments
Who’s to believe what you read on the Net? A bigger bunch of liars and buffoons you’ll never meet.
Nonetheless… in my travels I happened across an interesting argument.
A New Zealander was first to pilot a heavier-than-air aircraft.
So is there a Smithsonian Conspiracy to lie to the world about who really did fly first?
“The executors of Orville Wright’s estate entered into a contract with the Smithsonian [Institute] for the display of the aircraft which dealt with, among other – things, the wording to be used on the accompanying plaque. Paragraph 2 (d) of the Agreement reads:
“Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities administered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight.”
“Failure to observe this condition by the Smithsonian would result in a return of the “Flyer” to the vendors, according to paragraph 4 of the contract.
“The implication is clear. By trading its integrity for an aeroplane, the Smithsonian one of the most prestigious public institutions in the world, was condemning Gustave Whitehead [and by inference also condeming all other early aviation pioneers including Richard Pearse of New Zealand - CJB] to obscurity.”
Go here: http://chrisbrady.itgo.com/pearse/pearse.htm
or here: http://chrisbrady.itgo.com/pearse/smithsonian.htm
