Don't Wait 25 Years To Share Your Success

Most believe the Wright Brothers were the first to fly in a motorized airplane. On December 17, 1903, with no fanfare, Orville flew their primitive machine for 12 seconds (120 feet), 20 feet above the wind-swept Kitty Hawk beach.

In May 1908, after not flying for three years, they flew a more sophisticated plane higher and farther, in front of large crowds. The Scientific American reported on May 23, 1908 that “In view of these semi-public demonstrations, there can be no further doubt of the claims made by the brothers as to their ability to fly.”

The Wright Brothers were two of several persons who in the late 19th and early 20th centuries could be considered aviation pioneers. Lyman Gilmore of California was another. He too got assistance from a brother, Charles.  

On August 21, 1909, in the following article the Santa Cruz Sentinel proudly announced that: 

At the time that headline ran, Lyman Gilmore may have had a secret. Perhaps he had already bested the Wright Brothers.   Perhaps he, not they, deserves the “father of aviation” moniker.  Why?

Gilmore claimed that he flew his steam-powered airplane on May 18, 1902 – Nineteen months before the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk flight.

It sounds feasible. Gilmore had flown gliders in the 1890’s.  In 1902, he patented the steam engine he says fueled his successful flight on May 18 of that year.  By then, he also had drawings of an impressive (by then standards of an impressive prototype that he would eventually build.  Some thought his level of aerospace engineering acumen equaled if not surpassed that of the Wrights.

Then what was the problem?

Gilmore didn’t disclose news of his May 18, 1902 flight until 1927.

Why would someone wait 25 years to announce that he had accomplished such a monumental feat?   There are only 3 possible answers: deception, design, or neglect.

Let's dispose of "neglect."  Sure, he was a busy guy, but even if one attributed some absent-mindedness to him, it's unlikely the 25-year gap was a "mind-slip." 

That leaves deception and design.  Skeptics saw the 25-year time span as a sign that Gilmore had fabricated the flight.  I am unaware of the specifics of how he disclosed his feat - whether it was, for example, a casual off-hand mention to a friend or interviewer, a letter, or anything in between. 

Gilmore did not convey the appearance of a dashing aviator whose every word could be banked.

He avoided shaving, bathing and getting his hair cut. He believed that to do so would drain his strength and vitality. He carried his papers with him in his trench coat, which he wore even in summer, with expected results as to his odor (and a predictable skepticism of his credibility). (His brother also seemed a bit soap- and razor-averse).

Eccentricities aside, Gilmore was also very secretive of his inventive activities.  Understandably so.  Thus, it does seem feasible that he was so protective, introverted, and eccentric that he never felt comfortable announcing his alleged accomplishment before 1927.  

All in all, it is impossible today to confirm with reasonable certainty either that: (a) Gilmore did indeed fly a controlled motorized flight before the Wrights; or (b) that he was a liar.    

Interestingly, there do not appear to be any newspaper or magazine accounts containing (at best) raised-brow skepticism or (at worst) an uproar that a charlatan faux-viator was trying to hood-wink a nation.  On the contrary, although there was periodic mention of his odd nature, Gilmore was virtually always acknowledged as an aviation pioneer. 

In an August 1935 Popular Aviation article, the author portrayed Gilmore as one who had missed out on well-deserved fame:  

I would certainly enjoy it if at some point the aviation community and then world passed the "First" title from the dapper Wright Brothers to an eccentric, smelly, trench-coat wearing engineering mega-brain who supposedly traversed a dusty California field with a flying machine propelled by his steam engine motor 19 months before the Wright Bros. flew.  Until that happens, and it is unlikely, the Wright Bros. deserve the title.  

It is more likely that if there were any challenge, it would come from the promoters of Gustave Whitehead, who claimed that he made powered flights in 1901 and 1902, before the Wrights and Gilmore.   Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough (Truman, John Adams) references Whitehead in his recently released book on the Wright Brothers.   

The claims as to Whitehead were made in a 1937 magazine article and book, 35 years after Whitehead's alleged flights.   Perhaps Mr. Gilmore's 25-year lapse is not so enigmatic. 

The message for those of you on the verge of invention genius: Don't wait 25 (Gilmore) or 35  (Whitehead) years to share the news.  Even if you wanted to keep your secret, in this day of instant information and constant media coverage, you'd be lucky if you made it 25 minutes.