Connecticut Names Gustave Whitehead First in Flight

Stephen Pope

Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 09:31 PM ET

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** Gustave Whitehead**

Key Takeaways:

Connecticut legislators have passed a bill recognizing Gustave Whitehead, rather than the Wright Brothers, as the first person to achieve powered flight, at least north of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
This action re-ignites a historical debate, fueled by recent evidence such as a 1901 lithograph and an eyewitness account suggesting Whitehead flew two years before the Wright Brothers.
While publications like *Jane's All the World's Aircraft* now support Whitehead's claim, institutions like the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and many historians continue to uphold the Wright Brothers' 1903 flight as the definitive first.

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It’s a debate that could ignite a feud between the North and South. This week Connecticut legislators passed a bill that includes a paragraph buried within its text stating that Gustave Whitehead and not the Wright Brothers should be recognized as the first to fly — at least north of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

North Carolina already claims Kitty Hawk as the rightful birthplace of aviation, and most historians recognize Orville and Wilbur’s famous feat as being the first manned powered, heavier-than-air flight.