European Skepticism
In 1906, skeptics in the European aviation community had converted the press to an anti-Wright brothers stance. European newspapers, especially in France, were openly derisive, calling them bluffeurs (bluffers).
Ernest Archdeacon, founder of the Aéro-Club de France, was publicly scornful of the brother's claims in spite of published reports; specifically, he wrote several articles and in 1906, stated that "the French would make the first public demonstration of powered flight".
The Paris edition of the New York Herald summed up Europe's opinion of the Wright brothers in an editorial on February 10, 1906:
- The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It's easy to say, 'We have flown.'
In 1908, after the Wrights' first flights in France, Archdeacon publicly admitted that he had done them an injustice.
Read more about this topic: Wright Brothers
Famous quotes containing the words european and/or skepticism:
“Of course, in the reality of history, the Machiavellian view which glorifies the principle of violence has been able to dominate. Not the compromising conciliatory politics of humaneness, not the Erasmian, but rather the politics of vested power which firmly exploits every opportunity, politics in the sense of the “Principe,” has determined the development of European history ever since.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“No actual skeptic, so far as I know, has claimed to disbelieve in an objective world. Skepticism is not a denial of belief, but rather a denial of rational grounds for belief.”
—William Pepperell Montague (1842–1910)