Was the airplane's inventor Brazilian?

cnn ^ | December 10, 2003 | cnn

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As Americans prepare to celebrate the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight, a whole country is cringing at what it believes to be a historical injustice against one of its most beloved heroes.

Ask anyone in Brazil who invented the airplane and they will say Alberto Santos-Dumont, a five-foot four-inch (1.6 meter) bon vivant who was as well known for his aerial prowess as he was for his dandyish dress and high society life in Belle Epoque Paris.

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"Apparently, the debate comes down to how you define the first flight of an airplane."

[Weimdog]

It was only later that the secretive Orville and Wilbur Wright proved they had beaten Santos-Dumont at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, three years earlier on December 17.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Ask the average Brazilian how long it takes for the earth to rotate I full turn and they will tell you. "The earth is stationary and the sun takes one day to revolve around us". Santos was a pioneer but I'll never believe he was first.

[Thebaddog]

Sounds to me like a party boy that had a good idea, but not the drive to develop it that the Wright's had. CNN should leave it alone.

[Publius6961]

Here we go again.
The Chinese discovered America before 1430.
Right.

Unless they announce it at the time, or close to the time of the event, it doesn't count. The whole point of recognition is the celebration of an invention's or discovery's benefit to the whole world.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Only if Alberto is not classified as a white male.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Of course it was. As everyone knows, nothing was ever really invented in the US, it was always done somewhere else (usually Europe) first and the US guy stole the credit.

Of course, this logic works both ways, everything Europe supposedly invented was done by the Chinese 1000 years earlier, and Europe stole the credit.

[stevem]

No matter how hard I try I can't get "Santos-Dumont Patterson Air Force Base" to roll off of my tongue.

[dead]

He'll have to be gay too.

Every great human being is pronounced gay about twenty years after their death.

[billorites]

"Apparently, the debate comes down to how you define the first flight of an airplane."

Many developments occurred simultaneously in many countries.

It's not like, had the Wright Brothers been hit by lightening, that manned heavier than air flight would not have developed.

It always reminds me of the the controversy about electricity, AC vs DC, and the Edison vs Tesla rivalry .

Acknowledging Santos-Dumont's, or Langley for that matter, contributions doesn't diminish the Wright's one whit.

[shotgun]

No!! Calypso Louie Farrakan says that, and every modern convenience (or it's origianl idea) in todays society, was stolen from a superior race known to once inhabit the African continent.

[Arkinsaw]

At his summer home in the Brazilian mountain town of Petropolis, tour guides perpetuate myths about Santos-Dumont -- such as how he invented the wristwatch.

Santos-Dumont experts deny that assertion, although they concede he was probably the first male civilian to use a watch after asking his friend Louis Cartier to make him a timepiece he could use while flying. Previously, only royalty and soldiers had used watches.

He also invented the internet and carved Al Gore's head out of a single piece of wood.

[Prime Choice]

What is this? Take Credit For Everything The Americans Did First Day? Sheesh...

[SF Republican]

AL GORE invented the airplane, everyone knows that

[Consort]

Maybe a Brazilian invented empennage.

[shaggy eel]

,,, OUCH!

[DeepDish]

I should save every thread I have posted, Now I can only claim that I predicted this. Earlier this month I Said that I would be surprised if the Wright Brothers were not attacked before long. And now it starts. Why am I noot surprised. Oh well, it makes a nice story, to say that the boys from Brazil did it first. It will not make a movie that I would buy two years later at Sams in the close ou section.

[KellyAdmirer]

The New Zealanders think they have a guy who invented flight, too, but they have too much class to press the claim.

[DeepDish]

My great grandfather in vented powered flight in Bloomington Ill. and I challenge anyone on this board to prove me wrong.

[tbpiper]

from a superior race known to once inhabit the African continent

Apparently they knew what a crap hole africa was going to be and got the hell out a long time ago. Secret documents hidden out of public sight by the Arian Nation indicate that the entire race bleached themselves and moved to ancient Germany.