HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE

The Wright Brothers were summarily dismissed by the US government and most academic experts of their day.

This quote sums it all up - from THE WRIGHT BROTHERS, by Fred C. Kelly:
"When a man of the profound scientific wisdom of Simon Newcomb (for example) had demonstrated with unassailable logic why man couldn't fly, why should the public be fooled by silly stories about two obscure bicycle repairmen who hadn't even been to college. Professor Newcomb was so distinguished an astronomer that he was the only American since Benjamin Franklin to be made an associate of the Institute of France. It was widely assumed that what he didn't know about the laws of physics simply wasn't in books. And that when he said that flying couldn't be done, there was no need to inquire any further."