The story of the invention of the airplane and its first successful flights may be found in numerous encyclopedias, periodicals, and histories of aviation. In almost every account credit is apportioned among experimenters from several nations; while the Wright brothers may stand foremost to the average American, he realizes that the overall achievements of aviation have been attained only through the combined research of inventors in many countries. But during the past year and a half a new story has come out of the Soviet Union denying the usual credit given the Wright brothers and other non-Russian inventors and scientists. According to this story it was a Russian who invented and flew the first airplane and laid the foundation for later aerodynamics and all modern aircraft construction.