>From: Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[some stuff snipped]
>That's why I claim that self-launch is essential
>for the *first* airplane, and not essencial after
>the self-lauch problem was solved.
But if I recall correctly, it was a self-launching airplane that the Wright
brothers were attempting to market in 1905, a year before the other flights
in or near Paris. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)
As far as being "public," the media was there in 1903, or at least someone
with a camera (there were pictures published in the papers). Doesn't that
make it public?
I'm not trying to say that your contryman was not important to the history
of powered flight, Alberto, just that he wasn't the first person to achieve
it.
Reggie Bautista
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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