Source: www.maganews.com.br
The centenary of the first 14-Bis flight
The conquest of the skies
On October 23rd 1906, a crowd in Paris witnessed the first flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. The pilot was Brazilian Santos Dumont, who had built the plane he called 14-Bis
The world experienced one of the most creative periods in its history in the
last decades of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. It was in this period than man invented electric light, cinema and the automobile, amongst other inventions (read more about them on page 12). At that time man had flown in hot-air balloons, but no one had managed to fly in a motorized machine that was heavier than air and that could be controlled – that is, that could be directed wherever the pilot wanted it to go. Brazilian Santos Dumont was the first man to achieve this feat. On October 23rd 1906, a crowd gathered in Paris and saw an aircraft fly for the first time without the aid of a catapult or any other external boost. Santos Dumont was piloting 14-Bis, as had called the plane he had made himself. This made the headlines the world over and the Brazilian became a worldwide celebrity.
last decades of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. It was in this period than man invented electric light, cinema and the automobile, amongst other inventions (read more about them on page 12). At that time man had flown in hot-air balloons, but no one had managed to fly in a motorized machine that was heavier than air and that could be controlled – that is, that could be directed wherever the pilot wanted it to go. Brazilian Santos Dumont was the first man to achieve this feat. On October 23rd 1906, a crowd gathered in Paris and saw an aircraft fly for the first time without the aid of a catapult or any other external boost. Santos Dumont was piloting 14-Bis, as had called the plane he had made himself. This made the headlines the world over and the Brazilian became a worldwide celebrity.A brief biography
Dumont: love for machines and aviation
He had a few accidents during test flights, but never gave up fighting for his dreams
Alberto Santos Dumont was born on July 20, 1873 in a small city in Minas Gerais called Palmira Dumont was also well-known for other inventions of his, such as the wristwatch, for example. The Brazilian was considered to be a simple and generous man. In the last years of his life, Dumont suffered from two serious diseases: multiple sclerosis, and depression. On July 23rd 1932 Santos Dumont committed suicide in Guarujá (SP) andBrazil
The aeronautical industry in Brazil
The Aeronautical Technology Center (CTA) was opened in the 1950s, in São José dos Campos-SP. It was the first step towards Brazil’s building of top quality airplanes and its advances in varied scientific and technological fields. Specialized schools were set up in CTA to train professionals to work in the aerospace industry and to fly planes. The following decade the government decided to build a large aeronautical company. Embraer (the Brazilian Aeronautical Company) was opened in 1969, also in São José dos Campos, being privatized in 1994. Today this company sells its airplanes to countries all over the world.
Vocabulary
2 to witness – presenciar / testemumhar
3 heavier-than-air aircraft – aeronave mais pesada do que o ar
4 plane (= aircraft) – aeronave / avião
5 to flew – voar
6 hot-air ballon – balão movido a ar quente
7 wherever – na direção / por onde
8 feat – feito / proeza
10 external boost – impulso externo
11 to make headlines – virar manchete
15 dirigibles – dirível
17 to be set up – ser criado
Matéria publicada na edição de número 33 da Revista Maganews.
Fotos - www.santosdumont.14bis.mil.br
