Gustav Weisskopf (1874-1927) was born in Germany but emigrated to the US and anglicized his name to Gustave Whitehead in 1895. His interest in aviation began in Germany, but Whitehead's most significant experimentations commenced in America. By 1898, he was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he had built his first steam-powered airplane. A single witness reported that Whitehead not only flew this aircraft in 1899, but that the trip covered some 2,500 ft (765 m) and that the witness was aboard as a passenger. Aside from this witness account, however, there is no evidence to support the rather fanciful story, and it has been largely discounted. Nonetheless, Whitehead's most credible claims were to lie ahead. Whitehead moved his family to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he took a job as a mechanic around the turn of the century. There, he constructed his most famous aircraft, the No. 21. This vehicle was a rather elegant looking monoplane with the pilot seated in a fuselage shaped much like the hull of a boat. Power was supplied by a four cylinder gasoline engine turning two propellers, and the entire craft weighed about 800 lb (360 kg). According to Whitehead supporters, his greatest success came on 14 August 1901 when Gustave is said to have made as many as four test flights of the No. 21. The first of these, supposedly conducted in the pre-dawn darkness, is claimed to have traveled over 2,500 ft (765 m). Another test is claimed to have covered 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and reached altitudes up to 200 ft (60 m). Supporters go on to say that two more flights were made aboard a new aircraft, the No. 22, on 17 January 1902--one traveling 2 miles (3.2 km) and the other 7 miles (11.3 km). Unfortunately, the evidence to back up any of these rather extraordinary claims is sketchy, at best.

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