Ohio inventions and firsts · Achievement · 1904
Root's eyewitness account of the Wright brothers' first circle flight
On September 20, 1904, Amos Root watched Wilbur Wright fly the first complete circle in an airplane at Huffman Prairie; Wright mechanic Charles Taylor also saw it. Root's report in Gleanings in Bee Culture, published January 1, 1905, is described as the first published eyewitness account of an airplane flight.
At a glance
- Year
- 1904
- Place
- Dayton (witnessed); published from Medina, Medina County ZIP 44256 · Medina County
Why it matters
Preserved a rare outside account of the Wrights' progress.
Who gets the credit is disputed
The Ohio claim. The Library of America and the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission describe Root's account as the first published eyewitness account of an airplane flight.
The other claims. Wikipedia's Amos Root article goes further and calls his reports the only published eyewitness accounts of successful Huffman Prairie flights; the 'only' wording is not repeated by the other pages, so 'first published' is used here.
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.