Wright Brothers vs Santos Dumont: who invented the airplane?

i have an hologram... somewhere in my hyperspace tube container (since its interior its not in this universe, you can put as much as you want inside it)... as soon as I find it, you can see it. Only one problem... you must have a Zhanac Hologram Projector... which is only found on the Mordak Empire at Andromeda. Do you have one of them?
 
The Wright Brothers might have flown before Dumont, but they DID NOT invent the airplane, that's for sure. The device they used to fly is FAR from being an airplane, while Dumont's machine isn't. I mean, the Wright brothers had to use a catapult to launch their "whateve it was" machine into the air! How can that be considered an aiplane?!??
Santos Dumont invented the machine that took off and landed without the need of any outside help. That's an AIRPLANE! End of story. But of course, Americans will never recognise that, since they need to be the inventors of everything and the best and first at everything, even if they're wrong.
 
Nice thread necro......

Jet Fighters use a sort of catapult to take off from aircraft carriers. Does this also make them "not airplanes"?

Anyway, America has often been playing catch-up in the aerospace field. The Zero, various incarnations of the MiG, Sputnik, etc. were all ahead of the American counterparts for a time.