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 I, James Dickie, residing at 1257 Kingshighway, Fairfield, Connecticut,
depose and declare the following to be true to the best of my
knowledge and belief.
I worked with the late Gustave Whitehead when he was experimenting
with the construction of airplanes almost from the first of his
coming to Bridgeport for a period extending approximately a year.
I put small sums of my own money into his experiments, but how
much I do not know as I kept no account of it.
The airplane shown in pictures no. 32 and 42 in which my picture
appears never flew, to the best of my knowledge and belief. Steam
was supplied from a boiler from a boat, made by the Pacific Iron
works which weighed about 700 to 1000 pounds. It was about 2 1/2
feet wide, 4 feet long and 3 feet high. It was impossible for
the plane, constructed as lightly as it was, to carry such a boiler.
Furthermore the wheels were of laminated wood, and so far as I
can recall had no metal rims. They could not have traveled at
any great speed or long distance over the ground. The wings were
of cheap canvas and if the plane had traveled in the air at sufficient
speed to keep it in the air, the force of the wind through the
holes where the canvas was stitched to the bamboo poles would
have ripped it from the poles.
I do not believe the plane could have been adapted to a gas motor
because of the width between the propellers which was approximately
11 feet. Gustave Whitehead was an average mechanic, however.
I do not know Andrew Cellie, the other man who is supposed to
have witnessed the flight of August 14th, 1901 described in the
Bridgeport Herald. I believe the entire story in the Herald was
imaginary, and grew out of the comments of Whitehead in discussing
what he hoped to get from his plane. I was not present and did
not witness any airplane flight on August 14, 1901.
Signed and Witnessed |
