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To: EveningStar

The 1903 Wright Flyer ended up spending a few decades on display in France because the Smithsonian kept recognizing the contributions of Samuel Langley to manned powered flight.

Iirc the terms of the plane returning to the US after WWII (it was a miracle it survived) included acknowlegement of the Wrights as the sole creators of manned flight AND the removal of Langley’s prototype (never flown manned) from display, allegedly within a certain distance of the Flyer.

The agreement still stands and if the Smithsonian violates it the Wright Estate can reclaim the aircraft. Langley’s plane is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, at 26 miles outside the display restrictions that are allegedly part of the agreement.


18 posted on 12/18/2015 9:37:00 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: tanknetter
the Smithsonian kept recognizing the contributions of Samuel Langley to manned powered flight.

At the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, there is a plaque stating that the Wright Brothers were awarded the Langley Medal for their contributions to powered flight. I once told the director of the museum that there should be a plaque stating that Langley was specifically denied the Wright Brothers Medal for his contributions to retarding powered flight. Langley had just about everything wrong, but the Smithsonian kept backing him. They gave Langley's Aerodrome to Curtis, who modified it and flew it in an attempt to show that Langley had the idea before the Wrights, but just ran into bad luck.

As the late Charles Draper, of MIT, used to say, organized science has never forgiven a couple of bicycle mechanics from Dayton,Ohio, for inventing the airplane.

23 posted on 12/18/2015 9:54:16 AM PST by JoeFromSidney (,)
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