Marcello Vitale <mvit...@ucsbalum.net> wrote: The Wright brothers were certainly complicit in the lack of attention they > received. Fearful of competitors stealing their ideas, and still without a > patent, they flew on only one more day after October 5. From then on, they > refused to fly anywhere unless they had a firm contract to sell their > aircraft. They wrote to the U.S. government, then to Britain, France and > Germany with an offer to sell a flying machine, but were rebuffed because > they insisted on a signed contract before giving a demonstration. > This contract was similar to what Rossi is asking for, except there was no escrow arrangement. The Wrights trusted national governments to pay according to contract. What they demanded was:
The other party agreed to a price. The other party set performance standards, subject to the Wrights' agreement. If the Wrights met the performance, the other party would pay the agreed amount. This is an ordinary contract, and it would not normally be disputed, but many people thought that airplanes were impossible so the national governments hesitated to sign this agreement. Finally, thanks to Pres. Roosevelt intervention, the U.S. Army agreed to it. No money was paid until the Wrights demonstrated the airplane to the satisfaction of Army experts. Rossi is asking for similar terms. Fraud is impossible under these circumstances. Many authors feel that the Wrights were "complicit" but I disagree. It is true they kept a low profile. But I think this has been exaggerated. It was exaggerated first by the Scientific American magazine which began attacking the Wrights in 1906 and continued into the 21st century, most recently in 2003, publishing an article full of distortions and nonsense, try to justify their own original attacks. This is exaggerated for several reasons. First they got patent in 1906, which is not a low profile act. Second, the British and French governments sent agents to Dayton to meet with the Wrights. The Wrights showed them documents proving they had flown, the agents were immediately convinced and reported back to the governments that they should negotiate to buy airplanes. Unfortunately for the Wrights, the British and French government decided that it couldn't be that hard to build an airplane so they decided to do it themselves rather than buy one from the Wrights. The Wrights met with many other people and showed them documents, photographs, and so on, and they published interviews and letters in magazines. Furthermore, they did not fly because flying was extremely dangerous. It was not something you did on a whim. They had nearly been killed many times in accidents. In 1908 Orville was nearly killed again and suffered the rest of his life from his wounds. After 1909 I do not think they ever flew again. My take on this is here: http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJthewrightb.pdf > They were unwilling even to show their photographs of the airborne Flyer. > This is nonsense. Many people, including the British and French government agents saw the photographs and spoke with people who observed flights. The Wrights had dozens of affidavits from leading citizens of Dayton attesting that they had seen flights. They showed the affidavits to the agents and invited them to speak with those people. If the U.S. Army had sent agents to Dayton I am sure they would have been convinced. The Army thought it was the Wright's job to convince *them*. They did not bother to send anyone. Granted, the Wrights should have sent a few photos to Washington. But they were so fed up with the officials after years of getting the run-around, so they did not do this. Along similar lines I have often asked leading cold fusion researchers to send some photos or other evidence to high officials in the US government. They say it is not worth bothering. They said they know they will be rejected out of hand. Rossi says the same thing, and he may well be right. If any magazine or newspaper had bothered to send a reporter to Dayton that reporter would also have been convinced. No newspaper or magazine bothered to send a reporter. Even the local newspapers did not bother to send anyone. There was a streetcar line running next to the field where the Wrights flew. People riding streetcars often saw them flying in circles. The streetcar driver would stop to let the passengers watch. These people often call the newspapers and asked why there was nothing about the flights. Here is a wonderful description of what happened next, from the authorized biography: Dan Kumler . . . city editor Daily News, in Dayton, recalled in 1940 . . . that many people who had been on interurban cars passing the Huffman field and seen the Wrights in the air used to come to the Daily News office to inquire why there was nothing in the paper about the flights. "Such callers," said Kumler, "got to be a nuisance." "And why wasn’t there anything in the paper?" Kumler was asked. [by the author of the book] "We just didn’t believe it," he said. "Of course you remember that the Wrights at that time were terribly secretive." "You mean they were secretive about the fact that they were flying over an open field?" "I guess," said Kumler, grinning, after a moment’s reflection, "the truth is that we were just plain dumb." Along similar lines, people today claim that Rossi is being secretive or he is doing tests that no one can understand, or that prove nothing. In view of the fact that he boiled water for hours with no input in front of a large crowd of people, this is utterly preposterous. It is as absurd as claiming that flying an airplane in front of people riding streetcars is "secret." Gee, I guess their behavior seems highly suspicious :-))) > It did seem suspicious to some people back then. Those people did not know the first thing about aviation. The people who doubt cold fusion and Rossi today do not know the first thing about these subjects, and they refuse to learn anything. - Jed
