On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 01:15:15 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Peter Charles wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Peter Charles wrote:

... Also in that book is
a picture of Sir Hiram Maxim's aircraft built in 1894 that he
apparently flew while it was constrained by rails. It reportedly left
the ground by two feet, the first powered flight. ...

And all this time I thought it was the Wright Brothers
who did that. What else was in that Brit book, that
water was invented by Sir Aitchtwo Oh ? ;-)


Jeez Ken, what kind of history were you taught -- Maxim was American
but he did his machine gun and aircraft development in Britain.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWmaxim.htm

Suppose you also think Lindberg was the first to fly across the
Atlantic . . .

I guess it could have been Sir Jonathan Livingston Seagull
but yeah, I always thought the first solo flight across
the Atlantic was Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis
flight.

Emphasis on the word "solo" he was not the first to fly across, rather
the first to fly across solo. It's funny how that distinction always
gets lost.

Peter

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