page_title: History by Contract
section_title: The title's meaning
hierarchical_section_title: History by Contract / The title's meaning
caption_attribution_description: English: The agreement (popularly called a "contract") in which the Smithsonian promised not to say that any airplane before the Wrights' was capable of manned, powered, controlled flight.
context_page_description: History by Contract is a book by early aviation researchers Major William J. O'Dwyer, U.S. Air Force Reserve and Stella Randolph about aviation pioneer Gustave Whitehead. The book focuses on an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the estate of Orville Wright, which stipulates that the Smithsonian, as a condition of owning and displaying the 1903 Wright Flyer, must recognize and label it as the first heavier-than-air machine to make a manned, powered, controlled and sustained flight.
  The authors of the book offer evidence which they assert shows that the Smithsonian deliberately ignored Whitehead's aeronautical work in order not to violate the agreement with the Wright estate.
  The net result, they allege, made Whitehead a virtual nonentity in aviation history." They and other researchers argue that Whitehead made the first successful airplane flight in August 1901, predating the Wright brothers by more than two years. History By Contract reviews evidence and material available in two earlier books about Whitehead by Randolph and added statements and affidavits from self-described witnesses to Whitehead flights.
context_section_description: The "contract" of the book title refers to the agreement between the estate of Orville Wright and the United States, represented by the Smithsonian Institution. The agreement, dated 23 November 1948, stipulated:
  The Estate of Orville Wright agrees to sell the 1903 Wright Flyer to the United States (represented by the Smithsonian) for $1.
  In return, the United States guarantees the aircraft to be displayed prominently in the nation's capital and to be identified as the first heavier-than-air flying machine in which men made a controlled and powered flight.
  The airplane is to be valued at $1 for tax purposes.
  Should the United States not prominently display the airplane, display it without the agreed-upon identification, or identify another airplane as being capable of controlled and powered manned flight before December 17, 1903, the ownership of the airplane reverts to the Estate.
  Additionally, if the airplane is valued at more than $1 and the Estate assessed for taxes, the United States will pay those taxes. If it does not, the title reverts.
  If the United States forfeits its title to the airplane for any of these reasons, it has five years to comply with the agreement to regain title.
  The required labeling: There shall at all times be prominently displayed with said Aeroplane a label in the following form and language:
caption: Excerpt of the Agreement seen in its original form
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