The History: Years later in a court deposition Orville Wright recalled the first experiments. He discussed the early pioneers: Da Vinci, Cayley, Maxim, Lilienthal and Langley. "But the subject had been brought into disrepute by a number of men of lesser ability who had hoped to solve the problem through devices of their own invention which had all of them failed until finally the public was led to believe that flying was as impossible as perpetual motion ....." Orville Wright