Aviation first in dispute

H A RTFOR d, CON N. • Connecticut’s leading role in aviation has never been disputed, but legislators have passed a bill insisting an aviator from the state flew two years before the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

The measure is the latest twist in an effort to credit German-born aviator Gustave Whitehead for the first successful airplane flight.

The legislation is a flight of fancy, say Wright brothers partisans. Gov. dannel P. Malloy has not committed to signing the legislation, but will review it when it reaches his desk, a spokesman said.

The bill honours what it calls the first powered flight by Whitehead in August 1901, “rather than the Wright brothers” in december 1903.

“We want to correct something that should have been corrected long ago,” said state Representative Larry Miller, who spearheaded the legislation. “All we’re trying to do is correct history. There’s nothing in it for us.”

Tom Crouch, senior curator for aeronautics at the Smithsonian Insti- tution in Washington, which displays Wilbur and Orville Wright’s plane at the National Air & Space Museum, said Whitehead’s backers are “absolutely wrong.”

“Whitehead’s legend has spawned much speculation and hearsay,” he said. “People who have looked at this over the years … almost unanimously reject the claim.”

A recent burst of interest in Whitehead followed a documentary by an Australian historian, John Brown. Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, an influential industry publication, recently cited contemporary news accounts in concluding Whitehead beat the brothers from dayton, Ohio, into the air.