Ohio Lawmaker Challenging Whitehead's 'First in Flight' in Fairfield

While Gustave Whitehead has been credited here at home as attaining “First in Flight” in Fairfield, an Ohio lawmaker is preparing to dig in his heels in a battle to ensure that history doesn’t forget the Wright Brothers.

A new headstone was recently added to Whitehead’s plot at Lakeview Cemetery in Bridgeport that reads “First in Flight” -- 1901 -- Gustave Whitehead, according to the Connecticut Post.

Whitehead built his 21st manned aircraft called the “Condor” early in 1901, according to gustave-whitehead.com, and that summer – more than two years before the Wright Brothers – he made history’s first manned, powered, controlled, sustained flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft.

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Whitehead’s claim was recognized on March 8, 2013, by Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, considered the authority in aviation history. Both houses of the Connecticut legislature unanimously resolved to commemorate Whitehead’s achievement of first powered airplane flight before the Wright brothers and the law was signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and took effect on June 26, 2013.

However, Ohio State Rep. Rick Perales is pushing for legislation that declares that Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to fly a plane when they took off in the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 1903.

“It’s wrong for one state to distort history,” Perales said in 2013, according to the Dayton Daily News. “I believe it’s just as wrong for other states to accept it in silence. Wilbur and Orville were Ohioans, and Ohio needs to stand by them and speak up for them.”

Perales’ resolution passed the Ohio House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee in December, but it didn’t advance before the legislative session ended. He is planning on reintroducing it early this year, according to the Dayton Daily News.

“We need to refute (Whitehead’s recognition) and there’s no reason out there that anyone should challenge the Wright brothers as first in flight,” Perales said in a recent interview, according to the Dayton Daily News.

The Smithsonian has yet to recognize Whitehead as “First in Flight” and Whitehead advocate Andy Kosch, a teacher at Platt Tech in Milford, told the Connecticut Post that it all has to do with supposed backroom deals.

The Smithsonian was granted the original Wright Brothers Flyer, which is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, by the Wright family in an agreement that says they can never acknowledge another plane as flying first, according to the Post.

Kosch and the Whitehead family hope the recognition in Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft will help cement Whitehead’s legacy but they know it will be a long battle, according to the Post.

One that Perales and the Ohio state legislature are also gearing up for.

Image via gustave-whitehead.com