| No.21 | |
|---|---|
 Gustave Whitehead and his 1901 monoplane taken near Whitehead's Pine Street shop. His infant daughter, Rose, sits on her father's lap, and the engine that powers the front landing-gear wheels is on the ground in front of the others. | |
| General information | |
| Type | experimental |
| Manufacturer | Gustave Whitehead |
| Designer | Gustave Whitehead |
| Primary user | Gustave Whitehead |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1901 |
| First flight | purportedly August 14, 1901 |
The Whitehead No.21 was the aircraft that aviation pioneer Gustave Whitehead claimed to have flown near Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 14, 1901. Professional aviation historians and scholars reject claims for the flight. A description and photographs of Whitehead's aircraft appeared in Scientific American in June 1901,[1] stating that the "novel flying machine" had just been completed, and "is now ready for preliminary trials". The flight was reported in the August 18, 1901, issue of the Bridgeport Sunday Herald and reprints or rewrites were published in many other newspapers.[2]
Photographs exist showing the aircraft on the ground,[1] but there are no photographs known of the aircraft in flight. The No.21 was a monoplane powered by two engines—one for the wheels during the ground run, the other for driving the propellers in flight.