Orville Wright
Dayton, OH, October 19, 1937
O. Wright TLS Refuting Pilot's Competing Claims of "1st to.... Fly" One of the Best of His Letters
TLS

A typed letter signed by Orville Wright in which he responds to a controversial claim about the first flight. 2pp, measuring, 6.5" x 10.75", Dayton, Ohio, dated October 19, 1937. Signed "Orville Wright" and addressed to amateur aviator Fred L. Black Wright responds to the recently published book on German aviator Gustave Whitehead and its controversial claim that Whitehead mastered the first powered flight before Wright. The letter is accompanied by a photograph of Wright's plane in a French museum display, copyright M. Rol & Co., Paris. Flattened mail folds. Light toning along the edges along with minor ink marks to the top margins of both pages. There is a small tear at the bottom of the second page. The photograph has minor loss at the margins. Toning on the verso, with a copyright stamp and pencil notations.

In part:
"I have not seen the book 'Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead', but I did see the story on the same subject printed in 'Popular Aviation' of January, 1935, and signed by Stella Randolph and Harvey Phillips?The book is interesting in showing how easy it is, after an interval of 35 years, to get affidavits on matters which are utterly false...I believe I told you of the statements of eye-witnesses secured by A.V. Roe to establish his claim to having been the first Englishman to fly. Unfortunately for Roe I had in my possession letters written by himself at the time that proved the statements of his witnesses false. Moore-Brabazon told me that he would have been helpless in refuting these statements, producing twenty-five years after the event, excepting for the evidence which I was able to furnish. In the case of Whitehead the designs of the machine is in itself enough to refute the statement that the machine flew?"

Wright addresses several rumors that resurfaced after the 1937 publication of "Lost Flight of Gustave Whitehead", and an earlier article titled, "Did Whitehead Precede Wright in World's First Powered Flight?" published in Popular Aviation in 1935. In both cases, authors Stella Randolph and Harvey Phillips insisted that Whitehead had successfully made powered flights in 1901 and 1902, concluding that the German aviator pioneered the motor-operated airplane before the Wright brothers' monumental flight in 1903. Randolph and Harvey based their conclusions on alleged eyewitness accounts, however, zero photographic evidence existed for Whitehead's supposed flight. Furthermore, Whitehead had gained a reputation by the turn of the century as an aviator who frequently issued press releases detailing successful flights without any concrete evidence to back up his claims. As such, the majority of flight enthusiasts and historians have dismissed such claims.

In his letter, Wright also mentions a scandal between John Moore-Brabazon, the first Englishman to pilot a motor-powered airplane, and A.V. Roe, a fellow aviator and plane manufacturer who challenged Moore-Brabazon for his title. Wright draws a parallel between the Moore-Brabazon conflict and his own predicament with the claims in Randolph and Phillips' book.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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6.5" x 10.75"