Before Wright

Media reports about the Wright brothers have prompted me to wonder about what happened elsewhere before the brothers made their first flight.

Stories about powered-flight attempts by the Russian Aleksandr Mozhaiski and the German Gatho appear to be only reasonably documented, but there seems to be plenty of reliable evidence about the flights of Gustave Albin Whitehead, who appears to have achieved powered, controlled flight two years before the Wrights' first flight. Does anybody know the real story?

Falko Frühauf Bensheim, Germany

Source: Flight International