However, another witness of these flights was Orville Wright's older brother Lorin. He compiled a long list of Curtiss’s modifications that, to the Wrights, verified that the plane could not have flown without those changes. In light of the competing claims, Orville Wright and the Smithsonian argued for three decades over who had first invented a flyable plane. By 1943, the two parties had reached an agreement in favor of the Wrights, and the Wright Flyer of 1903 now hangs proudly in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC—recognized as the world’s first “powered heavier-than-air flying machine.”
Curtiss’s leadership as a manufacturer also was aided by another development. To help meet the war’s aviation needs, the U.S. government pressured the Wright and Curtiss companies to resolve their patent differences. Both companies received cash settlements for resolving their disputes. The Wright family’s patent war with Curtiss finally ended.
When it comes to crossing the Atlantic, many people may think that Charles Lindbergh was the first to do so in 1927. As marvelous as his achievement was, he was just the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris. Back in 1919, Curtiss flying boats manned by U.S. Navy aviators set out to become the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. On May 8, three flying boats took off from Naval Air Station Rockaway, NY. The three planes flew on to Nova Scotia and then to Newfoundland. On May 16, they all left Trepassey Bay and headed for the Azores off the coast of Portugal. Two of the three planes could not complete the overall trip. However, on May 17th, flying boat NC-4 reached Horta in the Azores. Ten days later, it flew successfully to Lisbon, Portugal. Finally, on May 29th, the plane left Lisbon, and eventually reached Plymouth, England on May 31st.