We've all heard of the Wright Brothers, the father of flight, as it were.  But early in their day there was some understandable skepticism about what they claimed to have done.

Here, from Feb. 10th, 1906 is the New York Herald commentary:
“The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It is easy to say, ‘We have flown.’”
From the National Air&Space Museum

While the Wright brothers were negotiating the sale of their aircraft, they let no one witness a flight or even see the airplane until they had a signed contract in hand. By the spring of 1908, the Wright brothers’ had received their patent in America and in several European countries. They had contracts with the U.S. government and a French syndicate of financiers. They were finally ready to share their invention with the world.

There was little press coverage of the Wrights’ breakthrough flights in 1903, and they made no effort to publicize their flights at Huffman Prairie in 1904 and 1905. Now, facing what they perceived as a growing public relations crisis in light of the acclaim being showered upon other aviators, the Wrights began a campaign to set the public straight on what they had accomplished.



Hat tip: Dan Vergano, USA Today