Did Gustave Whitehead achieve the first motorized flight on August 14, 1901 in Lordship?
From Popular Aviation, January 1935: The mile and a half flight, made August 14, 1901, occurred at Lordship Manor, now a suburb of Bridgeport and took place somewhere in the vicinity of the site of the present Sikorsky airplane factory. It was on 14 August 1901 in the early morning hours, when a racy monoplane became airborne. At the controls was the German inventor and builder, Gustave A. Whitehead. Powered by his self-built motors, the flight with his “No. 21” (pictured above) carried him a half a mile, then alighted gently and undamaged. All this occurred two years, four months and three days prior to the flight of the Wright Brothers.Anton Pruckner, with whom Whitehead had made many flights, swore the following under oath: “I did witness and was present at the time of the 14 August 1901 flight. The flight was about a 1/2 mile in distance overall and about 50 feet or so in the air. The plane circled a little to one side and landed easily with no damage to it or the engine or the occ
