Exactly when Preston Watson carried out his first flights in this aircraft is the crux of the matter in the eyes of James Watson's supporters. For any claimant to powered flight earlier than the Wrights, the date of the Wright's first powered flight (17 December 1903) is when such flights must pre-date. It is therefore convenient for anyone recalling such an event some fifty years after it allegedly took place to quote the year as 1903 or earlier. It is also notable that none of the eye witnesses that James Watson interviewed whilst preparing his case for Watson's powered flights ever mentioned that they saw a glider flying at Errol; all of them saw a powered aeroplane. Only in Bell Milne was there a recollection of a Watson glider and even then, he never saw it being flown.