I think you will find that there were many people doing heavier-than-air R&D during the nineteenth century! Around the start of the twentieth century, many peo

I think you will find that there were many people doing heavier-than-air R&D during the nineteenth century! Around the start of the twentieth century, many people started coming up with more-or-less viable designs. Nowadays we all agree the wrights were first. Others came up with designs in the same period (but probably later) . The fact that the wrights were(considered) first in the face of some pretty stiff competition actually makes it all the more impressive! In fact, the Smithsonian maintained that one Samuel Langley was first for quite a while! Technically he did have a heavier than air machine airborne as early as 1896, though that one was not piloted. I think the Smithsonians' position (together with Glenn Curtis) had more to do with a desperate need to establish Prior Art in the US patent war that followed. History does show that when the USA joined WWI, they were forced to start out in French and British combat aircraft. They had definitely squandered their lead by that time. I'd also question point 6 somewhat ("every modern airplane can trace its design back to the Flyer"). In many aspects, modern aircraft in fact seem to differ markedly from the wright design, even to the casual observer. They lack canards and wing warping, and tend to be of a "puller" design. See also: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#The_19th_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#The_19th... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Powered,_controlled_flight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Powered,...