Gustave Albin Whitehead was an aviation pioneer who emigrated from Germany to the United States where he designed and built gliders, flying machines, and engines between 1897 and 1915. Controversy surrounds published accounts and Whitehead's own claims that he flew a powered machine successfully several times in 1901 and 1902, predating the first flights by the Wright Brothers in 1903.
Much of Whitehead's reputation rests on a newspaper article which was written as an eyewitness report and describes his powered and sustained flight in Connecticut on 14 August 1901. Over a hundred newspapers in the U.S. and around the world soon repeated information from the article. Several local newspapers also reported on other flight experiments that Whitehead made in 1901 and subsequent years. Whitehead's aircraft designs and experiments were described or mentioned in Scientific American articles and a 1904 book about industrial progress. His public profile faded after about 1915, however, and he died in relative obscurity in 1927.
In the 1930s, a magazine article and book asserted that Whitehead had made powered flights in 1901–02, and the book includes statements from people who said that they had seen various Whitehead flights decades earlier. These published accounts triggered debate among scholars, researchers, and aviation enthusiasts, and even Orville Wright questioned whether Whitehead was first in powered flight. Mainstream historians dismissed the Whitehead flight claims, but some later research supported them, including books printed in 1966, 1978, and 2015.
No photograph is known to exist showing Whitehead making a powered controlled flight, although reports in the early 1900s said such photos had been publicly displayed. Researchers have studied and attempted to copy Whitehead aircraft. Since the 1980s, enthusiasts in the U.S. and Germany have built and flown versions of Whitehead's "Number 21" machine using modern engines and propellers.
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Some of their strengths
Gustave Whitehead has many admirable traits.
Based on spiritual traditions from around the world, they are someone who can be described as Energetic, Intelligent, Generous, Optimistic, Passionate, Communicative, and Organized.
Smart and Hardworking
According to Mysticism’s Astrology tradition, Gustave Whitehead is someone who is a smart, hardworking, reliable, and loyal person, who is detail-oriented and orderly, but also generous and optimistic. A person who is known for being fun and creative.
Active and Precise
Based on Daoism’s Ba-Zi or ‘Chinese Zodiac’ tradition, people who know Gustave Whitehead well know them as someone who can be tough, active, and sharp, like a sword.
Independent and Organized
According to Hinduism’s Jyotisha or ‘Vedic Astrology’ tradition, many would also describe Gustave Whitehead as someone who is independent, organized, inventive, and generous.
A person who is curious and a loves learning, who seems to always know what to say, who has an optimism that can overcome any difficult situation, and who seems to be able to master almost any skill.
Communicative and Intelligent
Based on the Mayan Tzolk’in or ‘Mayan Astrology’ tradition, Gustave Whitehead is someone who tends to have a desire to communicate with others, either verbally, through written form, or otherwise, and to have a knack for understanding art, beauty, and aesthetics.
They are also someone who is intuitive, imaginative, and an agent of change, and who is always dreaming of life's great possibilities and partnering with people to try to achieve those possibilities.
Patient and Perseverent
According to Judaism’s Kabbalah tradition, Gustave Whitehead tends to be someone who is patient, faithful, hardworking and persistent, and who wants to achieve a lot in life. Who tends to be rather private when it comes to expressing feelings, enjoys being independent and self-sufficient, and who is not afraid of any obstacle.
Some of Gustave Whitehead's challenges
While Gustave Whitehead has many strengths, nobody is perfect. They also have some challenging traits they need to manage.
For example, Gustave Whitehead can be Suspicious, Stubborn, Hypocritical, Self-centered, Difficult, Perfectionist, and Domineering.
Suspicious and Stubborn
One of Gustave Whitehead's key challenges is that they are someone who can be suspicious and stubborn.
Gustave Whitehead must also exercise caution as they can be excessive and unrealistic.
Domineering and Impatient
Gustave Whitehead is someone who can be demanding, egotistical, and controlling, can have a lack of judgment regarding personal finances, be argumentative and stubborn, and who can have a tendency to be withdrawn and spend time in self-imposed isolation.
Callous and Stubborn
Finally, Gustave Whitehead also can come across as cold and unemotional, be too dismissive of others' opinions, and be overly suspicious, selfish and crafty.
