It should also be noted that the Wright Brothers’ December, 1903 flights were little noticed for years, even if they were “stunning” to the few onlookers who saw them. Initial publicity of their four flights was sparse and completely erroneous, and for lack of credible evidence, generally met with skepticism. Their first official public airplane demonstration was in 1905 in Ohio, and they flew no more until 1908 when they were awarded two contracts for airplanes. By that time other inventors, both in the United States and in Europe, were flying their own successful designs derived independently of the Wrights’ discoveries.

Finally it is interesting to note that the sand dunes of southern Lake Michigan was the area of many hundreds of human-carrying glider flights in the late 1800s that long preceded the Wright Brothers’ interest in flying.