History by Contract

History by Contract, published in 1978, is a book written by early aviation researchers Major William J. O'Dwyer, U.S. Air Force Reserve (ret.) and Stella Randolph, about aviation pioneer Gustave Whitehead. The book, containing primary source documents, focused on an agreement between Smithsonian and the estate of Orville Wright that stipulates recognition of the Wrights as first to fly in order to retain the Wright Flyer. History by Contract purports to offer evidence that the Smithsonian Institution deliberately ignored Whitehead's aeronautical work, due to upholding the Wright brothers as the first to achieve successful manned, powered, sustained and controlled flight, per their agreement. Writer Frank Delear stated in an article that "The book accused the national Air and Space Museum (NASM) of an apparent conspiracy of silence interspersed with behind-the-scenes demeaning of Whitehead's efforts. The net result, O'Dwyer and Randolph alleged, made Whitehead a virtual nonentity in aviation annals."^[1]

History By Contract recapped the evidence and material available in two earlier books about Whitehead by Randolph, as well as adding statements and affidavits concerning alleged flights by Whitehead.^[2]

After what O'Dwyer described as secrecy and denials about the existence of a Smithsonian-Wright Agreement, O'Dwyer obtained a signed copy of the Smithsonian-Wright "Agreement" in 1976, with the help of then-Senator Lowell Weicker.^[3] Fox News reported the matter on April 1, 2013.^[4] The Smithsonian said that the agreement was put in place not to hide Whitehead's aviation experiments but to prevent the re-occurrence of a mistaken emphasis in the 1910s by the Smithsonian on the experiments of Samuel Pierpont Langley, identifying the 1903 Langley Aerodrome as the "first airplane capable of flight" even though it had not actually flown.^[4]

The Smithsonian Institution issued a release,^[5] written by Senior Curator Tom Crouch, on the matter on March 15, 2013, which read, in part "The contract remains in force today, a healthy reminder of a less than exemplary moment in Smithsonian history. Over the years individuals who argue for other claimants to the honor of having made the first flight have claimed that the contract is secret . It is not. I have sent many copies upon request. Critics have also charged that no Smithsonian staff member would ever be willing to entertain such a possibility and risk losing a national treasure. I can only hope that, should persuasive evidence for a prior flight be presented, my colleagues and I would have the courage and the honesty to admit the new evidence and risk the loss of the Wright Flyer."

The title's meaning

The "contract" of the book title refers to an agreement between the estate of Orville Wright (died 30 January 1948) and the United States, represented by the Smithsonian Institution. The agreement, dated 23 November 1948, stipulated:^[6]

• The Estate of Orville Wright agrees to sell the 1903 Wright Flyer to the United States (represented by the Smithsonian) for $1.
• In return, the United States guarantees the aircraft to be displayed prominently in the nation’s capital and to be identified as the first heavier-than-air flying machine in which men made a controlled and powered flight.
• The airplane is to be valued at $1 for tax purposes.
• Should the United States not prominently display the airplane, display it without the agreed-upon identification, or identify another airplane as being capable of controlled and powered manned flight before December 17, 1903, the ownership of the airplane reverts to the Estate.
• Additionally, if the airplane is valued at more than $1 and the Estate assessed for taxes, the United States will pay those taxes. If it does not, the title reverts.
• If the United States forfeits its title to the airplane for any of these reasons, it has five years to comply with the agreement to regain title.
• The required labeling: There shall at all times be prominently displayed with said Aeroplane a label in the following form and language:

Key provisions

The most controversial clause in the agreement is Paragraph 2(d): "Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities, administered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, claiming In effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight."^[8]

O'Dwyer and Randolph asserted this clause presents a strong incentive to keep the Smithsonian from officially recognizing any manned, powered, controlled airplane flight before that of the Wright brothers on 17 December 1903. When read in the context of the entire agreement, it says that should the Smithsonian take the position that someone other than the Wright brothers made a controlled and powered flight before 1903, the Smithsonian should be prepared to forfeit "the Wright Flyer" [or as named in the agreement, "Wright Aeroplane of 1903"]. ^[6]

History behind the agreement

The agreement ended a bitter feud that existed between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian over credit for developing the first man-carrying airplane to achieve controlled, sustained powered flight. After short test flights of the heavily modified Langley Aerodrome by Glenn Curtiss in 1914, the Smithsonian claimed that the Aerodrome, created by former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley and unsuccessfully tested shortly before the 1903 Kitty Hawk flights, was "the first man-carrying airplane in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight," according to the plaque displayed with the Aerodrome. Orville believed that claim "perverted" the history of flying machines and refused to donate the 1903 Kitty Hawk Flyer to the Smithsonian, loaning it instead to the Science Museum, London from 1928^[9] When the Smithsonian recanted its claim in 1943, Orville agreed to have the Flyer returned to the United States. The airplane remained in protective storage in Britain during World War II and was not returned to the U.S. until 1948, when the agreement was signed by Orville Wright's executors, following his death.^[10] Critics of the agreement contend that it is a conflict of interest that interfered with evaluation of research and recognition for anyone who might have conducted sustained flights with power and control, prior to December 17, 1903.^[11]

See also

• Early flight
• Timeline of aviation
• Aviation history
• List of years in aviation

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gustave Whitehead.

• Wright/Smithsonian Agreement pdf