The Wall Street Journal had a review of the book Birdmen by Lawrence Goldstone over the weekend. The book is about the early days of flight and the battle between the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss. While the Wright brothers may have been the first to make a manned flight, they were extremely secretive and wanted to control all things aero to guarantee their fame and fortune. Curtiss, on the other hand, was an extremely talented engineer and athlete and proceeded to move forward openly and on several fronts in spite of being sued by the Wright brothers for patent infringement of their wing warping design. Of course Curtiss wasn't alone - the Wright brothers sued everyone who built a plane in the early years.
I had the good fortune of making it out to Hammondsport, NY to the Glenn Curtiss Museum a few years ago - definitely well worth the trip. As one of my personal heroes, I've read quite a bit about Curtiss and I've come to the conclusion that the Wright brothers couldn't carry Glenn Curtiss' lunch bucket, in spite of all the press they've received over the years. At one time Curtiss was the fastest man in the air and on land. He set both records with machines of his own design. He also is the man who invented the "fifth wheel" for pulling trailers and the motorcycle twist-grip throttle. Coincidentally, Motorcyclist magazine has a "wright" up on Curtiss in the current issue. It's a nice little article hitting the highlights of his career. If you're at all into motorcycles or airplanes, you should definitely be familiar with Glenn Curtiss. I'm looking forward to getting a copy of Birdmen and reading more.
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