RE: Wrights Wrong? What do you think?
Good response, Matz (though a bit ironic considering your handle!). A lot of Americans love to hate the Wright Brothers.
I can't believe how many times I have seen it written that the Wrights' zealous pursuit of their patents was the cause of the United States falling behind Europe in aviation. This claim is so common nobody seems to think it even needs historical justification.
During 1911 and 1912 Imperial Russia, Italy, Britain, Germany and France all had aeronautical and aviation research facilities. When we started NACA in 1915 it did not even have a budget or a research facility. In Europe, widespread expectation of war even led to public subscriptions financing military aircraft before WWI. Governments were buying airplanes. During 1913 Russia outspent us by FORTY TIMES, to say nothing of other European countries. That had consequences for their aircraft industries, don't you think? Even MEXICO spent almost three times as much on aircraft as the U.S. In one year Mexico appropriated more for aviation than the U.S. had in six. Don't blame it on the Wright Brothers.
The U.S. government should have negotiated with the Wrights for their patent, which is what the Wrights wanted. Instead they haggled them down to a single machine for the ridiculously low price of $25,000 with incentives that, because of its performance, brought the final price to $30,000. This after blowing at least $50,000 on Langley. When the Army announced the criteria in 1908 it was ridiculed for expecting an aeroplane to meet such stringent criteria. The most successful French aviator at the time, Henri Farman, said the criteria were five years ahead of what could be done. That's the measure of how far the Wrights were ahead of everyone else.
Jim