To repudiate the claim by the State of Connecticut | 1 |
that Gustave Whitehead successfully flew a | 2 |
powered, heavier than air machine of his own | 3 |
design on August 14, 1901, or on any other date. | 4 |
WHEREAS, From time to time some individuals, publishers, and | 5 |
lawmakers revive the claim that Gustave Whitehead (1874-1927), a | 6 |
resident of Connecticut, made a sustained, powered flight in a | 7 |
heavier than air machine at Bridgeport on August 14, 1901, two | 8 |
years before the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio, flew on December | 9 |
17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; and | 10 |
WHEREAS, The Governor of Connecticut signed into law on June | 11 |
26, 2013, "an Act Concerning Government Administration"; and | 12 |
WHEREAS, The law replaces the Wright brothers with Gustave | 13 |
Whitehead as the person to be honored for the first powered flight | 14 |
on Connecticut's Powered Flight Day each year; and | 15 |
WHEREAS, The law provides no evidence that Gustave Whitehead | 16 |
ever designed, built, and flew a successful powered flying | 17 |
machine; and | 18 |
WHEREAS, Scholarly research by respected and academically | 19 |
credentialed historians over many decades have found no evidence | 20 |
to substantiate the Whitehead claims; and | 21 |
WHEREAS, A publicized digital image, purported to be an | 22 |
enhanced copy of a photograph that shows Gustave Whitehead's 1901 | 23 |
machine in flight, reveals only indistinct shapes; and | 24 |
WHEREAS, The North Carolina General Assembly previously | 25 |
repudiated a similar claim in 1985; and | 26 |
WHEREAS, The states of Ohio and North Carolina share and | 27 |
cherish the legacy of the Wright brothers, who lived and built the | 28 |
first powered airplane in Dayton, Ohio, and made their first | 29 |
powered flight on December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North | 30 |
Carolina; and | 31 |
WHEREAS, The United States National Park Service preserves | 32 |
the factual history of the invention of the airplane and the first | 33 |
powered flights in the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill | 34 |
Devil Hills, North Carolina, and the Dayton Aviation Heritage | 35 |
National Historical Park and the National Aviation Heritage Area | 36 |
in southwestern Ohio; now therefore be it | 37 |
RESOLVED, That Gustave Whitehead did not fly a powered, | 38 |
heavier than air machine of his own design on August 14, 1901, or | 39 |
on any other date; and be it further | 40 |
RESOLVED, That the citizens of North Carolina and Ohio invite | 41 |
the citizens of Connecticut to learn the truth about the invention | 42 |
of the airplane and the first powered flights by visiting the | 43 |
Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina and the Dayton | 44 |
Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and the National | 45 |
Aviation Heritage Area in Ohio. | 46 |