Gustave Whitehead Resources

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

• 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

•  “The Who Flew First Debate”, archived article from Flight Journal by William J. O’Dwyer
•  “Gustave Whitehead and the First-Flight Controversy” – History.Net (extensive article by Frank Delear, first published in Aviation History magazine, 1996)
• Wright Brothers Flight Legacy Hits New Turbulence (National Geographic)
•  “Whitehead Flew First: ‘We All Saw Him Fly’ “by Steve Link, grandson of Whitehead witness E. Koteles
• “Women Who Supported Whitehead’s Flights“ by Martha Matus Schipul
• CT Magazine: Case for Gustave Whitehead Keeps Soaring
• Who Was First? The Wrights or Whitehead? (Flight Journal, Mar. 21, 2013)
• The Unlikely Fight Over First in Flight (Time Magazine, Nov. 23, 2013)
• Ohio joins dustup over claim by Connecticut to be first in flight – The CT Mirror January 5, 2015)

OpEd Articles About Whitehead

• Susan O’Dwyer Brinchman: A war between the states over Whitehead (CT Post, Oct. 28, 2013)
• Susan O’Dwyer Brinchman: Demanding an investigation into the Smithsonian (CT Post,  July 31, 2013)
• Susan O’Dwyer Brinchman: Correcting the record on Whitehead, Wrights (CT Post, July 12, 2013)
• All the Whitehead proof we need (CT Post)
• Back and forth on Whitehead flight claims (CT Post)
• Tom Pieragostini: Connecticut rightly taking credit for Whitehead flight (CT Post)
•  John Brown: Wright Brothers’ defenders grow increasingly desperate
• Smithsonian asked to nullify Wright Brothers first in flight
• Open letter to Tom Crouch (Smithsonian Senior Curator) by John Brown (March, 2013)
• Historian: Smithsonian aviation curator should resign

News Articles about Whitehead

• Original eyewitness “first flight” article: Bridgeport Sunday Herald, published Aug. 18, 1901 “Flying” (page 5)
• Anniversary of a Liftoff (CT Post)
• Local expert says South Benson Marina likely was site of history ….
• Could Wright brothers, N.C. lose ‘first in flight’ stature? – USA Today
• Wright brothers flew 2 years after Gustav Whitehead, researcher claims
• Historian Propels Connecticut To Claim ‘First In Flight’ : NPR Historian: Smithsonian aviation curator should resign
• Fairfield, claiming ‘First in Flight’ laurels, to honor aviation pioneer Whitehead
• For the Whitehead believers, a long road to recognition … (Greenwich Times)
• First in flight (Fairfield Sun, excellent article)
• Gustave Whitehead’s First Flight Beat Wright Brothers’ By Years, Aviation Expert Contends (Huffington Post)
• Aviation bible: Whitehead first to fly – Connecticut Post  Andy Kosch stands with the replica of Gustave Whitehead’s plane at the Connecticut Air and Space Center in Stratford, Conn. on Tuesday March 12, 2013.
• New Bridgeport fountain celebrates Whitehead as ‘First in … Dedication of the Gustav Whitehead Memorial Fountain, in Bridgeport, Conn. May 15th, 2012. Photo: Ned Gerard
• Gustave Whitehead created and flew a plane over Bridgeport … Raised in Bridgeport, Peter Pisaretz grew up hearing that Gustave Whitehead was the first to create and fly an airplane, years before the Wright Brothers. “Since I …
• Connecticut lawmakers write Wright Brothers out of history as … Connecticut lawmakers write Wright Brothers out of history as ‘first in flight’ Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the bill into law that names Gustave ..
• Christian Science Monitor Whitehead Article 1986 shows CAHA President Stepanek agrees Whitehead Flew   “He got his craft into the air and landed it at a point no lower than the point of takeoff.”
• Connecticut’s magnificent men created flying machines (Stars and Stripes, Dec. 26, 2014)
• When is the Anniversary of the First Flight? The Answer’s Not So Easy (Time Magazine, Dec. 27, 2014) Caution: many mistakes concerning Gustave Whitehead in this article, which is biased toward the Wrights as first in flight.
• Whitehead grave gets new headstone (CT Post, Dec. 27, 2014)
• Local man Gustav Whitehead credited as first to fly – WTNH.com (Jan. 4, 2015)

• 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

• “Fathers of Flight?” Mysteries at the Museum Whitehead segment – includes footage of USA Whitehead replica flight
• (NEW!) Article with YouTube and transcript to prove it: CAHA/NEAM Historian Lippincott Agrees Gustave Whitehead Flew in 1901-1902
• GW First in Flight Youtube Channel – Multimedia info on Gustave Whitehead
• Gustave Whitehead’s airplane (replica) in flight in Germany, Oct 4, 1997 – YouTube (may actually have occurred in 1998)

Recommended Websites about Whitehead

• GustaveWhitehead.info – This website is maintained by “Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight” author Susan O’Dwyer Brinchman, with 52 years Whitehead experience.
• Ancestry.com “Whitehead Family Tree” maintained by S. Brinchman, this website owner. To suggest any additions or corrections to family information, email gwfirstinflight@gmail.com
•  *Megan Adam’s website (Whitehead descendant) Includes Witness Affidavits: http://www.gustavewhitehead.org/
• Gustave Whitehead Historic Sites [Locations] Today – places where Gustave Whitehead and a key helper lived, worked, and flew, CT Air and Space Center

Whitehead and Smithsonian-Wright Contract

• Smithsonian Wright Agreement of 1948 (aka “Smithsonian Wright Contract”)
• Smithsonian conspiracy to deny Whitehead flew first now provable (article by S. Brinchman proving contract with Wrights constructed by Whitehead detractors)
• Freedom of Information Act Filed On Smithsonian’s NASM for Contract Documents (Oct. 31, 2013) Click here for the article resulting from the information received.
• Photocopy (pdf) of the “Smithsonian-Wright Agreement of 1948″ on Fox News (Fox News, Apr.1, 2013 –may not be current link, see this link  for Contract if it doesn’t appear)
• Smithsonian Releases Wright Brothers Contract detailing ‘first in flight’ claims (Fox News, J. Kaplan, Apr.1, 2013)
• “History by Contract”: How Early Aviation History Was Compromised   http://historybycontract.org– (an archived website on Wayback Machine) where you will learn about the Smithsonian – Wright contract with the Wright heirs, that requires Smithsonian to credit only the Wrights with first flight.
• Wrong with Wright: Smithsonian Under Fire For Wright Brothers Contract  (Jonathan Turley, Fox News Blog)
• Letter demands Smithsonian bury flyer contract (CT Post, March 30, 2013)

Whitehead Events

• “Gustave Whitehead Day” State of CT, August 14th
• Discovery Museum Celebrates “First in Flight” on August 17 (July 29, 2013, Fairfield Sun)
• Discovery Museum Celebrates Whitehead’s Historic Flight (Aug. 7, 2013, Vision News)

TV Segments about Whitehead

• 60 Minutes Show – “It’s official: The Wright Bros weren’t first” (8/18/13)– announces Gustave Whitehead is “First in Flight” (at end of the show use slide bar to go to 43:13, beware of many ads, but this is worth it!)
•   60 Minutes Show – “Wright is Wrong?” (Complete 11 minute segment from 1987 show with Major William J. O’Dwyer regarding Whitehead, including replica flights, with commentary posted August 18, 2013)                    

Museums

• Discovery Museum, 4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT (Whitehead exhibit and 1/4 scale model of No. 21 plane may still be there – new director, if not there, contact them and ask why not?)
• Gustav Weisskopf Museum, Leutershausen, Germany [in southern Germany – Bavaria, close to Ansbach and Nuremberg); has an English online info site
• Fairfield Museum and History Center – O’Dwyer / Gustave Whitehead Archives / Collection, Fairfield, CT
• CT Air and Space Center, Stratford, CT (has replica of #21 Whitehead plane that flies, call ahead for exhibit days/hrs)
• Whitehead Aviation Trail (in progress)

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 Congress – Institute 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 (Brinchman, 2015)