Percy Pilcher, etc
Back home BBC2 showed a Horizon this evening suggesting that Percy Pilcher's triplane (the one he was in the process of building when he crashed the Hawk glider and was killed in 1899) would likely have achieved powered flight before the Wright Brothers in December 1903. This is absolute bollocks. Pilcher was a pioneer of aviation, sure enough, but he contributed little of his own to aviation progress during his lifetime and was not about to. On the basis of what Pilcher accomplished (or, more accurately, failed to accomplish) during the 5 years he experimented with gliders (1894-1899) I don't believe that, even with 4 years head start on the Wright Brothers, he would have created a practical powered aircraft. Had it been constructed the triplane was far from it... underpowered, crudely designed and - crucially - entirely lacking in a control mechanism. The method of control invented by the Wright Brothers was the greatest gift they gave to the world, and it was simply beyond Pilcher's powers of invention.
I gave a talk in the Museum last week "Flight Before the Wrights" which looked at 8 claims that powered flight was achieved before the Wright Brothers:
James Preston Watson - Scotland
Alexander Mozhaiski - Russia
Clement Ader - France
Karl Jatho - Germany
Richard Pearse - New Zealand
Lyman Gilmore - California
Gustave Whitehead - Connecticut
Burrell Cannon - Texas
The journey to that talk began about 5 years ago when I researched the James Preston Watson story in great detail. I've had an interest in the subject of "pre-Wright claims" ever since and have been meaning to pull them all together for quite some time.
An objective analysis based on generally accepted principles of historical enquiry reveals that, quite clearly, not one of them made a true powered and controlled flight before the Wright Brothers (perhaps the closest was Jatho.)
What sustains these stories?
People like to debunk a popularly-held view of history. indeed I like to do it myself... it is nice to explain to Americans how Thomas Edison did not invent the electric light bulb. This has gone so far in some cases that the original story itself is minority opinion - I often enjoy explaining to an incredulous audience why I believe Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, shot John F. Kennedy!
People often have an ignorance of what the Wright Brothers actually achieved, and how the Wright's were operating on an entirely different plane (excuse the pun) from every other attempt that was made before them - or indeed for the next 5 years after 1903 until the Wrights revealed their secret to the world.
People are also ignorant of the fallibility of the human memory. you know, an oral testimony collected 50 years after the supposed event... under far from impartial circumstances... might not be 100% accurate folks.
Perhaps the most common factor of all - people are very often blinded by national pride, local pride or family pride. This one crops up time and time again. People want to believe, even in the face of the most striking evidence. Twice - in 1915 and 1928 - Richard Pearse is on clear written record explaining how the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight and how his own efforts failed. There is no contemporary record of any flight efforts before December 1903. Pearse himself is on record as saying he didn't begin experimenting before 1904, and he never claimed what others have claimed for him. Yet virtually the entire nation of New Zealand proudly believes the story of their hero battling and succeeding against overwhelming odds! This is a study in psychology as much as a study in history.
10:57:53 PM 
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