If an event occurs that is so obscure and secret that you can't trace a causal chain from it to the present, it likely had no influence on the course of subsequent events and is therefore not the "first" in the causal chain. Was America "discovered" by people crossing the Bering straits land bridge or by Columbus? Which "discovery" had a greater influence on the present?
So unless they are claiming a causal link to present day aircraft via Glenn Curtiss, his accomplishment would not seem as influential and therefore not as notable.
Even the Europeans thought Santos-Dumont was first.
There are heck of a lot of contenders for first flight claims (all deader than the proverbial door nail - making it hard for them to argue their claims) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines
I was beginning to think there could be something to the story but in view of this article I think at least for now I won't be losing sleep over Wright brothers place in history.
Um, I hate to break this to you but when the Wright Flyer was finally moved after 20 years from the London Science Museum to the Smithsonian in 1948, the Smithsonian contractually agreed to the following, which biases anything they have to say on the subject (a bit of irony given the history of the Smithsonian and Wright relations):
"Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities administered for the United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight." From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer
I've been to the London Science Museum and seen the replica that replaced the original - and first learned the story there.
