What made Wright Brothers the first, and not Santos Dumont or other people is that they not only created the first flying machine, they developed critical _PRIN

What made Wright Brothers the first, and not Santos Dumont or other people is that they not only created the first flying machine, they developed critical _PRINCIPALS_ of heavier then air flight that is used in every fixed wing aircraft since then. Without Wright Brothers' innovations controlled flight is simply impossible. Other people had things that looked similar to the Wright airplanes, but only the Wright airplane was able to take off, do figure 8s in the sky, and then land. For example the rest of the world was operating off of aerodynamic mathematics of lift and drag that was simply incorrect. The Wright brothers built the air tunnels and created the math for better ones that actually worked. The also figured out the principals to using rudders to counter adverse yaw in controlled flight. This is the tendency of the airplane to turn (yaw) against the direction of a turn. And there are a few things beyond that. Without this controlled flight is not possible. Without figuring these things out airplanes are not really possible. Now would of somebody else eventually figured it out? Sure. But it was the Wright brothers that did it first and that is the point. This is why they were able to create the first airplane and other people didn't. Even if they looked very similar it doesn't matter because they didn't incorporate the necessary features that made the Wright's plane work.