how good it would be at dealing with variable wind conditions.
IT seems like his method of producing a turn was to lean in the direction he wanted to go. This would create some real problems if you are dealing with even a slight cross-wind when landing. Also, I don't know if this would enough to deal with more 'challenging' (variable) wind conditions in the air.
The Wright brothers big achievement was in controlling the aircraft. There were others who flew but they couldn't control the aircraft in the inevitable varying conditions you will inevitably encounter when flying (especially longer flights than a few minutes).
Whitehead was reported to have achieved flight with his aircraft by the Bridgeport Herald - with at least two eyewitnesses.
Flying: http://www.gustave-whitehead.com/history/news-reports-1901-2-flights/1901-08-18-bridgeport-herald-p-5/
....
He was headed straight for a clump of chestnut sprouts that grew on
a high knoll. He was now about forty feet in the air and would have been high
enough to escape the sprouts had they not been on a high ridge. He saw the
danger ahead and when within two hundred yards of the sprouts made several
attempts to manipulate the machinery so he could steer around, but the ship kept
steadily on her course, head on for the trees. To strike them meant wrecking the
air ship and very likely death or broken bones for the daring aeronaut.
Here it was that Whitehead showed how to utilize a common sense principle
which he had noticed the birds make use of thousands of times when he had been
studying them in their flight for points to make his air ship a success. He
simply shifted his weight more to one side than the other. This careened the
ship to one side. She turned her nose away from the clump of
sprouts when within fifty yards of them and took her course around them as
prettily as a yacht on the sea avoids a bar. The ability to control the air ship
in this manner appeared to give Whitehead confidence, for he was seen to take
time to look at the landscape about him. He looked back and waved his hand
exclaiming, "I’ve got it at last."
He had now soared through the air for fully half a mile and as the field
ended a short distance ahead the aeronaut shut off the power and prepared to
light. He appeared to be a little fearful that the machine would dip ahead or
tip back when the power was shut off but there was no sign of any such move on
the part of the big bird. She settled down from a height of about fifty feet in
two minutes after the propellers stopped. And she lighted on the ground on her
four wooden wheels so lightly that Whitehead was not jarred in the least.
(more)
Apparently, he had enterred into an agreement with a W. D. Custead of Waco, Texas to build a more advanced aircraft combining features of Whitehead's and Custead's designs. I guess he ran out of money before this could be achieved.
Here's the link:
http://www.gustave-whitehead.com/
I think to say you really achieved controlled, powered flight you had to have shown repeatedly, a complete ability to control the flight of the aircraft and also land it in controlled fashion and be able to cope with variable conditions during flight. Pulling off a stunt is one thing, but the Wright brothers demonstrated repeatedly they had reliable control of their aircraft. They logged many more hours of flight than anybody else without the crashes that bedeviled all the other experimenters in powered flight. I don't think Whitehead's desing would have been a practical, commercial succuss (as he himself admitted).
"But while Mr. Whitehead has demonstrated that his machine will fly he does not pretend that it can be made a commercial success."
= new reply since forum marked as read
