Comments by "Owain Shebbeare" (@shebbs1) on "The Wright Brothers: First in Flight and Family" video.

@Nutzkie2001 Santos Dumont was very depressed about the militarisation of aircraft, as were other pioneers.
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@libertyhog1428 All true, except all early Wright flyers were launched with catapult assist. Arguably the 14-bis was the first to take of unassisted, though was only marginally controllable in all three axes of flight, a flaw the many early aircraft had, including the first Wright aircraft. That said, unassisted take-off doesn't make the 14-bis a more legitimate first flight. Several others have been claimed as the first as well, but the couldn't prove it, and proof is what is needed to support a claim.
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Not accurate: The Dumont flight was a powered balloon, an early airship really, it was not heavier-than-air controlled flight. Use of a catapult to assist take-off doesn't invalidate the Wright's claims as some aircraft today, have catapult assisted launch. I am no fan of them, with their penchant for litigation and patent claims, but they have the evidence in their favour.
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Forsaken Pumpkin Semantics: it is well known that people flew before the Wrights, but they are credited with the first heavier-than-air powered flight. As for the Kiwi bloke, there is no proof. One thing the Wrights were was being very good at self-promotion, and this is what backs up their claims.
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Sorry, but that cannot be proven. Santos Dumont's first heaver-than-air powered flight was after the Wrights.
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@georgemckenna462 True, but using wing-warping to induce roll died out pretty quickly in mainstream aviation. Ailerons are far better, though the Wright's tried to claim they had a patent on that too.
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Forsaken Pumpkin The semantics of what constitutes the first flight do make Abbas ibn Firnas as having made the first recorded flight, using a glider. with the Wrights able to prove the first powered, heavier-than-air flight. If there were earlier cases in either category, such as that New Zealand bloke, there is no evidence to support such claims, making them pretty much worthless..
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