Whitehead was born in Leutershausen, Bavaria, the second child of Karl Weisskopf and his wife Babetta.
As a boy he showed an interest in flight, experimenting with kites and earning the nickname "the flyer".
He and a friend caught and tethered birds in an attempt to learn how they flew, an activity which the police soon stopped.

His parents died in 1886 and 1887, when he was a boy.
He then trained as a mechanic and traveled to Hamburg, where in 1888 he was forced to join the crew of a sailing ship.
A year later he returned to Germany, then journeyed with a family to Brazil.
He went to sea again for several years, learning more about wind, weather and bird flight.

Weisskopf arrived in the U.S. in 1893.
He soon anglicized his name to Gustave Whitehead.
The New York toy manufacturer E. J. Horsman hired Whitehead to build and operate advertising kites and model gliders.
Whitehead also made plans to add a motor to propel one of his gliders.
In 1893, Whitehead was in Boston where he experimented with gliders, kites, and models, and where he worked at Harvard's kite-flying meteorological station.

In 1896, Whitehead was hired as a mechanic for the Boston Aeronautical Society.
He and mechanic Albert B. C. Horn built a Lilienthal-type glider and an ornithopter.
Whitehead made a few short and low flights in the glider, but did not succeed in flying the ornithopter.
Also in 1896, founding Society member Samuel Cabot employed Whitehead and carpenter James Crowell to build a Lilienthal glider.
Cabot reported to the Society that tests with this glider were unsuccessful.
Whitehead was born in Leutershausen, Bavaria, the second child of Karl Weisskopf and his wife Babetta. As a boy he showed an interest in flight, experimenting with kites and earning the nickname "the flyer". He and a friend caught and tethered birds in an attempt to learn how they flew, an activity which the police soon stopped.
His parents died in 1886 and 1887, when he was a boy. He then trained as a mechanic and traveled to Hamburg, where in 1888 he was forced to join the crew of a sailing ship. A year later he returned to Germany, then journeyed with a family to Brazil. He went to sea again for several years, learning more about wind, weather and bird flight.
Weisskopf arrived in the U.S. in 1893. He soon anglicized his name to Gustave Whitehead. The New York toy manufacturer E. J. Horsman hired Whitehead to build and operate advertising kites and model gliders. Whitehead also made plans to add a motor to propel one of his gliders. In 1893, Whitehead was in Boston where he experimented with gliders, kites, and models, and where he worked at Harvard's kite-flying meteorological station.
In 1896, Whitehead was hired as a mechanic for the Boston Aeronautical Society. He and mechanic Albert B. C. Horn built a Lilienthal-type glider and an ornithopter. Whitehead made a few short and low flights in the glider, but did not succeed in flying the ornithopter. Also in 1896, founding Society member Samuel Cabot employed Whitehead and carpenter James Crowell to build a Lilienthal glider. Cabot reported to the Society that tests with this glider were unsuccessful.
Gustave Whitehead