But why is that so?
The flight of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis on the cover of Le Petit Journal, 25 November 1906.
Who was Alberto Santos-Dumont?
Alberto Santos-Dumont was born in 1873 to a wealthy Brazilian coffee magnate.
From his early childhood, Santos had a great love for mechanical things.
At night, he would lose himself in the fictional adventures of Jules Verne.
Ten years later, Santos made his first balloon ascent in a rented balloon.
In the following months, Santos began making his own balloons.
The first one measured a mere 6 meters in diameter and weighed only 27 kilograms.
It was the smallest aircraft ever built until then, yet, it flew more than two hundred times.
Santos’s dirigible was a huge breakthrough, capable of speeds of over 10 miles an hour.
He made several flights in his flying machines earning him the prestigious Deutsch Prize.
An airship designed by Alberto Santos-Dumont.
This resulted in 14-bis, an airplane which looked like a jumble of box kites.
The plane was 4 meters tall, 10 meters long and had a span of 12 meters.
It weighed nearly two hundred kilograms.
The entire plane was constructed from bamboo and pine joined by aluminium sockets and was covered with Japanese silk.
On 13 September, the 14-bis made a 7-meter test flight.
On 23 October, Santos-Dumont made another attempt, this time making a 60-meter flight.
Santos-Dumont 14-bis flies before an audience on 23 October 1906.
Santos-Dumont discarded the 14-bis project and turned to monoplanes.
His most successful creation, theDemoiselle, was capable of reaching up to 90 kilometers per hour.
With his health worsening, Santos-Dumont returned back to Brazil in 1915.
He died in 1932.
This anti-Wright brothers sentiment was prevalent in Europe right from the start.
European newspapers, especially those in France, were openly derisive, calling thembluffeurs(bluffers).
They possess a machine or they do not possess one.
They are in fact either fliers or liars.
It is difficult to fly.
It’s easy to say, ‘We have flown’.
Those who doubted the Wright brothers issued apologies.
6, which occurred in 1901.
