Wrights’ descendant testifies in 1st-flight flap
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
Defenders of the Wright Brothers, including one of their descendants, are applauding Ohio legislation defending the famous aviators’ place in history as the first in flight.
Amanda Wright Lane is the great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright. She impressed an Ohio House committee Tuesday by brandishing a photograph of the Wrights’ famous flight and pieces of wood from their Wright Flyer that traveled with fellow Ohioan Neil Armstrong to the moon and back.
The Ohio proposal repudiates a 2013 Connecticut law that declared Gustave Whitehead’s August 14, 1901, flight as first, beating the Wrights’ flight off Kitty Hawk, N.C., by two years. Most aviation historians disagree.
The National Aviation Heritage Alliance’s director said a national aviation heritage area and two national parks depend on the Wrights’ accomplishment.