Background
Between 1904 and 1908 there was fierce competition between European aviation experimenters in their attempts to achieve powered heavier-than-air flight. Although the Wright Brothers had first flown a powered aircraft in 1903, and by the end of 1905 had flown their Flyer III many times (including a flight of 24 miles (39 km) in 39 minutes 23 seconds on 5 October, they had chosen not to make public demonstrations or allow close examination of their aircraft because they feared that this might jepordise their prospects of commercially exploiting their discoveries. As a result many people did not believe the claims of the Wright Brothers until Wilbur Wright's demonstrations at Le Mans in France during August 1908, when their advance in airplane control was obviously apparent
After assisting Ernest Archdeacon with his gliding experiments in 1904 Gabriel Voisin briefly entered a partnership with Louis Blériot in 1905. After the failure of their second aircraft, the Bleriot IV, the partnership was dissolved in November 1906.
At this time Alberto Santos-Dumont had made Europe's first officially recognised heavier-than-air powered flights using his 14-bis aircraft, witnessed by officials from the Aero Club de France. Despite this success, the 14-bis design had no potential for development, and was only flown on 12 November 1906, in a second trial, and on 4 April 1907 before being wrecked.
Read more about this topic: Voisin 1907 Biplane
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