I guess the author never hard of the Wright brothers.
You’d be surprised (or perhaps not) buy how little coverage the Wright Brothers get in today’s textbooks. Last one I used, did have a picture of the Wright Flyer, but didn’t mention them in the body of the text. It is as if one of the great inventions of the 20th century really wasn’t a part of American history. And if you google “American inventors”, see what you get.