The other thing the Wrights did early on was fly other people in their plane, in front of large crowds. Seems like a pretty easy way to prove you are legit instead of flying 1 plane 1 time and then telling your friend in a bar or whatever "oh yeah, well I built one of those 3 years ago and I swear it worked." Sadly in the age of wikipedia and Snopes it is almost easier to pass off frauds as truth.