I'm English. I hate cricket, and I much prefer coffee. Actually the stereotype maybe tea, but the reality is beer, and lots and lots of it for many English men and women. For many a cricket match is just an excuse not to go work and drink more beer!
Most consider the flight by Sir George Cayley's
footman (after which he resigned his job) in 1850
to be the first heavier than air flight, although
the power was derived by it being towed, so it
didn't count as a self-powered flight (to make
an additional distinction between powered and
unpowered).
Well the article on the New Zealand flight gets off to a bad start:
"Popular history has it that the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk [in the United States] were the first to fly [a heavier-than-air craft], but this is not true!"
Actually popular history has it that it was not
the first heavier than air flight (this having
been by Cayley's footman in 1850) but the first
powered flight.
If you are going to put forward alternative
claims (and there are many) at least get the
claim right in the first place!
Slashdot Mirror
I'm English. I hate cricket, and I much
prefer coffee. Actually the stereotype
maybe tea, but the reality is beer, and
lots and lots of it for many English men
and women. For many a cricket match is
just an excuse not to go work and drink
more beer!
A kite is very qualitatively different, as a kites don't generate lift. (Or at least not traditional kites)
Most consider the flight by Sir George Cayley's footman (after which he resigned his job) in 1850 to be the first heavier than air flight, although the power was derived by it being towed, so it didn't count as a self-powered flight (to make an additional distinction between powered and unpowered).
Well the article on the New Zealand flight gets off to a bad start: "Popular history has it that the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk [in the United States] were the first to fly [a heavier-than-air craft], but this is not true!" Actually popular history has it that it was not the first heavier than air flight (this having been by Cayley's footman in 1850) but the first powered flight. If you are going to put forward alternative claims (and there are many) at least get the claim right in the first place!