Aviation History – August 14, 1901. On this Wednesday, August 14, 1901, it is the American aviator of German origin Gustav Weisskopf who will shine in the sky, the latter also known as Gustave Whitehead will, in fact, be at the origin of the very first powered flight. The pilot having carried out this flight with a device of his own design, namely his motorized monoplane No. 21 with a block displaying no less than 12 horsepower.
Several people have thus witnessed his performance, including a journalist, a written record will then be kept of this aerial trip totaling 850 meters at about 15 meters above the Fairfield field. Unfortunately, no photo will immortalize this feat.
And it will even be eclipsed over time, just like its author, by the flight of one of the Wright brothers: the American air pioneer Orville Wright having passed on to posterity thanks in particular to his motorized flight with the “Flyer 1 which is often considered the first flight of its kind. Nowadays, the name of Gustave Whitehead does not resonate in any memory…
