Ok, seeing your point now. I was absolutely not trying to say their motor plane was just a glider. Reading it again that sentence was badly worded. 100% with you there!
The comment was strictly about their first plane, their supposed invention. When they flew their first glider, Lilienthal was already dead. His first flights had been 20 years before those of the Wrights! And yes, the Wrights obviously started with the glider just like him (which I was talking about) and only added the motor in later versions. It's known that they studied documents from Lilienthal and others and designed their flying machine based on that. So the idea that they invented it is ridiculous, that's all I was trying to communicate. Adding the engine does not mean they invented the whole thing, but sadly the general public has no idea about this and thinks they were the sole inventors.
They were still extremely skilled engineers, not to take away from that. They were pioneers in their own right. Their glider was superior to Lilienthal's, but that's partly because it was based on the superior biplane design by Chanute and Herring.
The comment was strictly about their first plane, their supposed invention. When they flew their first glider, Lilienthal was already dead. His first flights had been 20 years before those of the Wrights! And yes, the Wrights obviously started with the glider just like him (which I was talking about) and only added the motor in later versions. It's known that they studied documents from Lilienthal and others and designed their flying machine based on that. So the idea that they invented it is ridiculous, that's all I was trying to communicate. Adding the engine does not mean they invented the whole thing, but sadly the general public has no idea about this and thinks they were the sole inventors.
They were still extremely skilled engineers, not to take away from that. They were pioneers in their own right. Their glider was superior to Lilienthal's, but that's partly because it was based on the superior biplane design by Chanute and Herring.