From the Publisher
Three of mankind's greatest inventions occurred in the years beginning this story: the telephone, the automobile, and the airplane - with all engulfed in momentous patent battles. The victors of two, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford, then played crucial roles in the third, the epic fight between the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss.
If American aviation history was truly told, our children would know that Glenn Hammond Curtiss was the greatest person in its history; that he was most responsible for creating America's preeminent aviation industry; that from 1911 to 1948 Curtiss compan-ies 'led the world in aviation;' that he was "The Henry Ford of Aviation."
And that Alexander Graham Bell was his partner and co-founder of our aviation in-dustry; that he was a major figure in the development of flight in America; and he with Ford helped Curtiss stop the Wright brothers' attempted monopoly of world aviation.
Britisher Charles Grey (1875-1953. Founder and editor, The Aeroplane, 1911-1939; editor, Jane's All The World's Aircraft, 1916-1941), arguably the world's most know-ledgeable person on flight's early days, shortly before his death wrote:
"Strange thing isn't it that the U.S.A. has never recognized Glenn Curtiss as by far the greatest man America has ever produced in Aviation? Think of the early Hammondsport products. Then the Jenny. Then the first flight onto & off a ship. Then the first flying boats. The big & little Americas (of 1916-18) & their descendants, the F boats of Felixstowe, from which descend all the Short boats, Empire boats, & trans-Atlantic boats & the Sunderlands & today the Princesses.
Then the N. C. boats, first across the Atlantic, & the string of Curtiss record-breakers, & Schneider winners. And the D-12 engines, from which the Rolls Falcon, & ultimately the Merlin are descended...So far as I know there is nobody in the World who has claim to have influenced aircraft design & production as he did, or had done..."
That was like I felt when completing WALDO: Pioneer Aviator, for its first chapter dealt with Curtiss's co-founding of Naval aviation at San Diego's North Island in 1911-1912 (when young Waldo Waterman assisted him). I then tagged Curtiss: 'The Henry Ford of Aviation.' Curiosity then led me to write PENDULUM, uncovering what I considered the cause for much of the anti-Curtiss bias at the Smithsonian: a long-hidden 1948 'Agreement' with Orville's heirs which resulted in the return of the 1903 Wright Flyer from its 20-year hiatus in Britain's National Museum. Its publication earned con-siderable praise and/or credibility from several institutions (ie: the San Diego Aerospace Museum, the Henry Ford Museum, and, indirectly, the Library of Congress) while it was roundly abused by the Smithsonian.
Now you may judge for yourself the facts of this intriguing tale - but with the caveat that it's now known that the Grosvenors (Bell's descendants) of National Geographic fame may be even more to blame for having never told the true story of Bell and Curtiss (focus of another book, Bell & Curtiss - How The Partnership of Alexander Graham Bell and Glenn Hammond Curtiss Led to The Founding of The American Aviation Industry, unpublished). Note: Cover shows Curtiss and Henry Ford, 1913; rear cover shows Curtiss and Alexander Graham Bell, 1907.
