Gustave Whitehead - Rediscovery

Rediscovery

Whitehead's work remained almost completely unknown to the public and aeronautical community after 1911 until a 1935 article in Popular Aviation magazine co-authored by Stella Randolph, an aspiring writer, and aviation history buff Harvey Phillips. Randolph expanded the article into a book, "Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead," published in 1937. Randolph sought out people who had known Whitehead and had seen his flying machines and engines. She obtained 16 affidavits from 14 people and included the text of their statements in the book. Four people said they did not see flights, while the others said they saw flights of various types, ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of feet to more than a mile.

Harvard University economics professor John B. Crane wrote an article published in National Aeronautic Magazine in December 1936, disputing claims and reports that Whitehead flew. The following year, after further research, Crane adopted a different tone. He told reporters, "There are several people still living in Bridgeport who testified to me under oath, they had seen Whitehead make flights along the streets of Bridgeport in the early 1900s." Crane repeated Harworth's claim of having witnessed a one-and-a-half mile airplane flight made by Whitehead on 14 August 1901. He suggested a Congressional investigation to consider the claims. In 1949 Crane published a new article in Air Affairs magazine that supported claims that Whitehead flew.

In 1963, William O'Dwyer, a reserve U.S. Air Force major, accidentally discovered photographs of a 1910 Whitehead "Large Albatross"-type biplane aircraft shown at rest on the ground. He found the photo collection in the attic of a Connecticut house. He and members of his 9315th U.S. Air Force Reserve Squadron were requested by the Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association (CAHA) to conduct research to try to learn if Whitehead had made powered flights. O'Dwyer continued his research for years and became convinced that Whitehead did fly before the Wright brothers. O'Dwyer later contributed to a second book by Stella Randolph, The Story of Gustave Whitehead, Before the Wrights Flew, published in 1966. They also co-authored another book, History by Contract, published in 1978, which criticized the Smithsonian Institution for inadequately investigating claims that Whitehead flew.

In 1968, Connecticut officially recognized Whitehead as "Father of Connecticut Aviation". Seventeen years later, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution which repudiated the Connecticut statement and gave "no credence" to the assertion that Whitehead was first to fly, citing "leading aviation historians and the world's largest aviation museum" who determined there was "no historic fact, documentation, record or research to support the claim".