flying 262s again...

[Robert Vermaat]

Yeah there were plenty of people flying before the Wright's. They were also crashing. The thing that the Wrights did was invent controlled flight.
In many ways, the accomplishments of Santos and the Germans far outstrip the Wrights contributions, but I suppose there is a special yearning for "firsts" even if the "firsts" are far more humble than the later developments.

Yes.
There's first and firsts. The Wrights were not the first ones to fly nor the firsts to invent or excute powered flight. They were the ones to get ahead with controlled flight, indeed, that's their accomplishment. You can't have modern flight without it. However, the Wrights are now getting all the credit, which simply is not theirs. It's like that old mistake of saying the Roman Empire ended in 476.

Personally, I'd rather be the culture that invented warp drive, than the one that first put a man in orbit.

Not me. Who know what you'll bring back? Why are (almost) all SF stories and theories so positive? I bet there's some big galactic empire out there that somehow missed us or does not bother. But when we invent warp drive... EEKS!