Local testimonies backed claims of ‘flying machine’

Those who testified included John Christie, who had been a ploughman on Daleally farm from 1900 to 1906.

He said he often stopped work to watch the plane clearing hedges and fences, and was sure it had been flying in 1903.

Broughty Ferry man Alexander Robertson also told how, shortly before he had left school in 1903, aged 13, he had guided a pony to help Preston Watson pull his plane from the shed to the flying field.

David Urquhart, of Kirriemuir, remembered and described exactly how the plane had been launched, using two falling 56lb weights and a blacksmith’s anvil to catapult it into the air after running along greased wooden rails.

None of these witnesses could produce any documentary evidence to back up their claims as to the exact dates involved.

The most compelling evidence against the Watson’s claim for pioneering honours came from aeronautical historian Charles Gibbs-Smith.

He carried out detailed research into the Scottish claims for a book on aircraft development in 1960.

In 1966, Gibbs-Smith wrote to The Courier repeating his views: “There is no truth in the story of the 1903 flight, and after confronting Mr James Watson with the facts of the case, he wrote to me in 1955 saying, I make no claim that the machine that Preston used in 1903 was a powered machine.”

There is no truth in the story of the 1903 flight. HISTORIAN’S LETTER TO THE COURIER IN 1966