In the US, the Smithsonian Institution claimed that Samuel Langley, not the Wrights, was the inventor of the airplane. His Aerodrome #6 flew nearly a mile in 1896, but this machine was not really controllable, and Langley's subsequent prototypes regressed, ending with an ignominious flop into the Potomac river on December 8, 1903, nine days before The Wrights' successful tests at Kitty Hawk.

Not coincidentally, Langley was the secretary of the Smithsonian, and in addition, his claims were promoted by Glenn Curtiss in his attempts to overthrow the Wright patents. As the dispute heated up, the Wrights loaned the flyer to the London Science Museum, where it remained until after Orville's death.