>From Marcello, > The Wright brothers were certainly complicit in the lack of attention > they received. Fearful of competitors stealing their ideas, and still > without a patent, they flew on only one more day after October 5. From > then on, they refused to fly anywhere unless they had a firm contract > to sell their aircraft. They wrote to the U.S. government, then to > Britain, France and Germany with an offer to sell a flying machine, but > were rebuffed because they insisted on a signed contract before giving > a demonstration. They were unwilling even to show their photographs of > the airborne Flyer. The American military, having recently spent > $50,000 on the Langley Aerodrome-a product of the nation's foremost > scientist-only to see it plunge twice into the Potomac River "like a > handful of mortar", was particularly unreceptive to the claims of two > unknown bicycle makers from Ohio.[66] Thus, doubted or scorned, the > Wright brothers continued their work in semi-obscurity, while other > aviation pioneers like Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henri Farman, > Leon Delagrange and American Glenn Curtiss entered the limelight."
There do seem to be some similarities. Regrettably, history often repeats itself. We shall see if that is the case... again. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
