Who gave Orville his check ride?
There is considerable evidence (newspaper reports, witnesses) that Gustave Whitehead (Weisskopf) flew over a mile in Connecticut at least two years before the Wright Brothers. The Wright brothers visited him and got the idea of the airfoil propeller from him. He credited the Wrights with starting the development of the aircraft industry and said his design, although it flew pretty well, wasn’t going any further.
A replica of Whitehead’s airplane can be seen flying at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucm80BYUXEE
