The fact that this remained controversial due to a lack of evidence for over a century speaks to how limited the world's communication networks were at the time. It took a century to uncover evidence in the form of first page reports, a form of communication that we'd all believe would spread the message far and wide, yet Whitehead's accomplishments were relegated to obscurity almost as soon as they were reported.

I remember reading about these claims a few years ago and the only evidence at that time was the back page report in a newspaper that most Wright supporters denigrated as a satirical source akin to today's "The Onion". I was ready to hop in the comments section ready to decry the article only to find that the digitization of archives had completely changed the body of evidence supporting Whitehead's claim.

To be fair, the Wright brothers have their place as the first successful aviators as they were able to iterate and expand on their Wright Flyer's design to produce an unbroken lineage of aircraft leading to the modern day. Whitehead's design flew first but it was ultimately a dead end aside from his powerplant. I think there's an equal place in history for creators of the first practical, foundational, or modern design in a given category. Invention doesn't happen in a vacuum and researching the best combination of fundamental concepts and applying them as the Wright brothers did is equally revolutionary in my opinion