Gustave Whitehead Resources


More Gustave Whitehead (Gustav Weißkopf) Resources:
Books About Gustave Whitehead
  • In Print: (English)

“Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight” by Susan Brinchman (2015) – You may order it here.

  • Out of Print

History by Contract (O’Dwyer & Randolph, 1978); Before the Wrights Flew (Randolph, 1966); Lost Flights of Gustave Whitehead (Randolph, 1937)

  • In Print (German language)

Also available in German, the following book (a separate title, not a translation of any of the above): Gustav Weisskopf: Ich flog vor deb Wrights – Erster Motorgflug 14. August 1901 (A. Wust., Leutershausen: Fritz Majer & Sohn. 1999).

Magazine Articles About Whitehead

OpEd Articles About Whitehead

News Articles about Whitehead

  • for more, do a search on “Gustave Whitehead and Flight”
  • See Latest (Whitehead) News at right on Welcome Page of Ratzenberger website, by clicking here

Multimedia about Whitehead

Recommended Websites about Whitehead

Whitehead and Smithsonian-Wright Contract

Whitehead Events

TV Segments about Whitehead

Museums

Archives:

  •  William O’Dwyer – Gustave Whitehead Research Collection, Fairfield Museum, Fairfield, CT
  • Stella Randolph – University of TX, Dallas, TX
  • CT State Library – Gustave Whitehead Research Collection (Manuscript Collections, under G and W) Gustave Whitehead Research Collection, 1901-2014 (RG 069:171) Gustave Whitehead (1874-1927) was an early aviation pioneer who invented gliders, airplanes, and helicopters from 1896-1911.  Connecticut General Statute § 10-29a (19) recognizes Whitehead’s contribution to aviation by requiring the Governor to annually proclaim “Powered Flight Day to honor the first powered flight by Gustave Whitehead and to commemorate the Connecticut aviation and aerospace industry.”  In 2014, the General Assembly adopted House Resolution No. 87 recognizing Connecticut as “the location of the first manned, controlled flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.”  The collection consists of the “Gustave Whitehead First in Powered Flight” Master Witness File, 2014 (in print and electronic copies); newspaper and journal clippings about the flight and subsequent research, 1901-1998; and three books about Whitehead by Stella Randolph and Major William J. O’Dwyer, USAF Reserve (Retired).
  • Library of CongressInstitute of Aerospace Sciences Archives, Box 126, Folders 1 & 2; Gustave Whitehead archives [these archives do not show up on the general public listing, interestingly enough]
  • Bridgeport Library, Bridgeport, CT http://blog.ctnews.com/Witkowski/2013/03/19/gustave-whitehead/
  • National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Smithsonian Institute, Boxes 4, 5, 12 Bradley Air Museum of the Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association (CAHA), Windsor Locks, Connecticut, 1971-1976. Correspondents include Philip C. O’Keefe and Harvey H. Lippincott, who served in several different capacities in the state’s aviation community. He was director of the Bradley Air Museum for a time, archivist of United Technologies Corp. (formerly United Aircraft), and on the board of CAHA. His correspondence has been left under the heading in which the aeronautics department maintained it, but there may not have been any real reason for the arrangement. Much of Lippincott’s correspondence appears under his name (see series 1 and 2) and some of it concerns his interest in the claims that Gustave Whitehead flew before the Wright Brothers; Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association (CAHA), 1972-1974. See also Harvey Lippincott – Box 5 of 73; Harvey H. Lippincott, 1965-1970, 1972-1976. See also Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association, the Bradley Air Museum, United Technologies, and Lippincott in series 2 – Box 12 of 73. For more info on Harvey Lippencott, Founder and Director of CAHA, see Whitehead FAQ #10.
  • Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association (CAHA) a 501c3 nonprofit that runs New England Air Museum (NEAM), located in Windsor Locks,CT. CAHA coordinated Whitehead research and interviews with living witnesses in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Their archives contain a wealth of Whitehead field research and correspondences archival information that CAHA has NOT made accessible to the public, despite its 501c3 status that requires it. The reason could be that CAHA has taken an anti-Whitehead stance in recent years, unlike the period from 1964-1980’s under founder Harvey Lippincott’s directorship. A search of the term “Gustave Whitehead” produces nothing on the NEAM website, which is a serious omission, given that NEAM is in CT, run by a CT nonprofit, in a state where the governor and state legislature recognize Whitehead as first in powered flight, and where CAHA’s founder and past president also recognized flights in 1901-1902 by Whitehead.  See Whitehead FAQ #10 for more info on CAHA.

* personal websites or other resources herein may present additional viewpoints that do not necessarily reflect this author’s point of view

Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight

Who flew first?