Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) was a Brazilian inventor and aviation pioneer, one of the very few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft. On 23 October 1906 his 14-bis made the first powered heavier-than-air flight in Europe to be certified by the Aéro-Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. It was also the first powered flight to be publicly witnessed by a crowd and takeoff unassisted by an external launch system.
Santos-Dumont is a national hero in Brazil, where it is popularly held that he preceded the Wright brothers in demonstrating a practical airplane. Countless roads, plazas, schools, monuments, and airports there are dedicated to him, and his name is inscribed on the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom.
In 1932 Brazil fell into a civil war between the federal government and the ruling São Paulo oligarchy, where both sides used aircraft in combat, causing so much disgust and sadness on the father of flight that he comitted suicide.
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) was a Brazilian inventor and aviation pioneer, one of the very few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft. On 23 October 1906 his 14-bis made the first powered heavier-than-air flight in Europe to be certified by the Aéro-Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. It was also the first powered flight to be publicly witnessed by a crowd and takeoff unassisted by an external launch system.
Santos-Dumont is a national hero in Brazil, where it is popularly held that he preceded the Wright brothers in demonstrating a practical airplane. Countless roads, plazas, schools, monuments, and airports there are dedicated to him, and his name is inscribed on the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom.
In 1932 Brazil fell into a civil war between the federal government and the ruling São Paulo oligarchy, where both sides used aircraft in combat, causing so much disgust and sadness on the father of flight that he comitted suicide.
