Marks 116th Anniversary Of His Reputed Flight, Being The Wright Brothers

State officials in Connecticut continue to hold the position that Gustave Whitehead was the first person to fly a heavier-than-air machine on August 14, 1901 ... two years before the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

The state held a ceremony Monday marking the 116th anniversary of the flight they say took place, though there is little evidence to support the claim.

An article in "Janes All the World's Aircraft" suggests that Whitehead flew from "an open field about 15 miles outside the city and performed two demonstration sorties. The second flight was estimated to have covered 1.5 miles at a height of 50 feet, during which slight turns in both directions were demonstrated."

Officials in both North Carolina and Ohio, where the Wright Brothers had their airplane factory, dispute Connecticut's claim that Whitehead was first. And the Smithsonian Institution says that the evidence for Whitehead's flight is "unproven".

Still, municipal leaders held the ceremony from 10 a.m. to noon in a park in Bridgeport, and declared the day "Gustave Whitehead Day".

(Image from file)

FMI: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead