While the Wright brothers were negotiating the sale of their aircraft, they let no one witness a flight or even see the airplane until they had a signed contract in hand. By the spring of 1908, the Wright brothers’ had received their patent in America and in several European countries. They had contracts with the U.S. government and a French syndicate of financiers. They were finally ready to share their invention with the world.
 
There was little press coverage of the Wrights’ breakthrough flights in 1903, and they made no effort to publicize their flights at Huffman Prairie in 1904 and 1905. Now, facing what they perceived as a growing public relations crisis in light of the acclaim being showered upon other aviators, the Wrights began a campaign to set the public straight on what they had accomplished.