This need to start somewhere and here it goes ; just want some opinions here of my Brazilians mates and other people!
Here is the One Million (half to you in Brazil!) Question :
Who invented the airplane?
[list=a][*] The Wright Brothers in 1903 ?
[*] Santos Dumont in 1906 ?[/list=a]
Please no heated coments. Just a simple plain question , to verify in which one does the genaral people (down there) believe.
For the ones that haven't ever heard of the second one , Santos Dumont , here goes a little story (inacurate , but gives a good understanding)
The Americans says that teh Wright Brothers invented , or better , made the first flight in 1903 in North Carolina.
The Brazilians (and some of the French for that matter) , believe that the "father of aviation" was/is Santos Dumont.
The point here is that , in 1906 , he lifted , flew and landed what we know today as an airplane. Had self propulsion (no need to be "catapulted" , controls like todays crafts (altough it was a little odd in design) so it took-off , flew for some time (very short) and landed again. That was the 14-Bis. Untill that time , no other project similar to that one was presented or made public (as far as I know , so please correct me if I'm wrong). That flight was recorded , by the "Aeroclub de France"(?), was filmed too and had a great crowd watching it.
I know the americans will not even think about others than the Wright Bros. as the fathers of aviation. But I'm sure some of them already heard what I just wrote over that. And in the frankly , I'm just glad that we have the airplane today or I would be on ships today..
(my second option in life).
So please , I would like to hear some opinions , and nothing like "go f*** your self , or , loonie". Just an opinion , that's all.
So let's the debate begin!
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