Wilbur wright and Orville Wright brothers/KOOC-0/903/KOOC-0/2/KOOC-0/7 successfully launched the first power plane "Voyager/KOOC-0/No."/KOOC-0/2 seconds in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. But supporters of Santos Dumont believe that their hero 1906 10 flew in a park in Paris for the first time.
Santos Dumont was born into a family of French jewelers in Brazil. /kloc-when he was 0/8 years old, he returned to his hometown of France and soon became fascinated with flying. After dealing with hot air balloons for several years, Santos Dumont began to turn his attention to the power flight of the plane. 1906 10 10 On 23rd October, under the admiring eyes of a group of spectators, Santos Dumont made his first flight in Bagat Le Park in the western suburbs of Paris. The flight distance is 60 meters and the height from the ground is about 2 meters. The skeleton of the "Double 14" aircraft is made of aluminum and bamboo, covered with silk, and the gasoline engine of the aircraft is designed and manufactured by Santos Dumont. The Wright brothers' first flight was completed at Little Eagle Beach. The plane took off with the help of the slope, and only a few people were watching.
In the same year165438+1October 2 1, Santos Dumont took off again in "Double 14". This time he flew 220 meters at a height of 6 meters. The International Aviation Federation registered these two flights as the earliest aviation records.
Later, Sandas Dumont also built a new plane called Dragonfly, but the work exhausted him. He returned to Brazil on 1909. Santos Dumont has always hoped that airplanes can be used as a means of transportation, but the fact is not what he imagined. During the First World War, airplanes were used to drop bombs for the first time, which aggravated his frustration. 1932 On July 23rd, he committed suicide at the age of 59, shortly after learning that the plane was used to suppress the armed uprising in Brazil.
Today, Santos Dumont still enjoys a high reputation in Brazil. The Brazilian Air Force officially admitted that he was the first person to complete the flight alone. One of the two civil airports in Rio de Janeiro is also named after him.
In fact, Santos Dumont is not the only one who challenges the status of the Wright brothers. Clemente Adail, a Frenchman, once claimed that he flew a steam-powered plane about 48 meters over a friend's estate in the suburbs of Paris on 18901October 9. In France, many people call him "the father of Air France".
Richard pearce, an eccentric New Zealand farmer, also boarded his homemade monoplane on March 3 1, 1903. According to himself, his plane also landed in Ceng Fei for about140m, and finally plunged into his own fence.