Wow, Chock, that is AWESOME! You know how I love history, and this is the first I ever heard of that one. Thanks!
Oh, and I agree about the aeroplane. Wilbur Wright himself wrote to Samuel Langley, then curator of the Smithsonian Institution, asking for information about previous experiments. He stated that they wanted to learn everything they could before beginning their own experiments, including the flying models built by Langley himself. Most scientists and inventors don't work in a vacuum. On the other hand, in 1908 even Santos-Dumont was only flying long distances in a straight line. They were all amazed at Reims when Wilber flew in a figure 8 and stayed aloft for the better part of an hour.