The Wright Brothers did extensive testing on the mechanics of flight in the early 1900s, trying to figure out how a machine could create enough lift to sustain flight, and how it would react in the air.
After testing pieces of wood in a rudemintary wind tunnel, the Wrights designed a machine which they believed could stay in the air for atleast a few seconds. Thus, in 1903, the Wrights took their machine to the windiest place in the United States, Kitty Hawk, Norht Carolina...knowing full well that only with the help of strong winds would their machine have any chance of sustaining flight.
There was also two more problems. Their machine was too heavy for its own good, and the engine too weak. Therefore, it could not takeoff on its own means, and had to rely on a catapult to propel it into the air. Then once airborne, the pilot would only be take for a ride, because the Wrights also did not know how to manipulate the controls of an aircraft once airborne.
So, in 1903, the Wrights catapulted their machine into the windiest skies of the US, and it flew-or glided-along for a few seconds before coming down hard on the North Carolina sand.
Santos Dumont, on the other hand, had been a well known inventor for some time before he first took flight. He invented many simple everyday gadgets, and was highly respecte in Europe. But his fasination lay with aviation, and man's dream of flying. In 1906, Santos Dumont and the rest of the world had no idea who the Wright Brothers were, and were still under the impression that no flight had been made.
Dumont came up with a heavier than air machine which could take off, manuver through the air for several minutes, and land gently where it started. Thus, Santos Dumont took off from downtown Paris in 1906 infront of a crowd of millions, manuvered his aircraft using an invention of his: the aileron, and landed safely at the same point he started at.
Only many years later would the records of the Wright's "flight" in 1903 be released, and the Americans claimed the right of first flight by technicality...the technicality being the Wrights machine was heavier than air, and had a working motor..as useless to flight as that motor might have been.
So the question is this: was the Wrights machine really an airplane that took flight? Or was it more of a kite? If the latter is true, which is what the evidence points to, than Santos Dumont made the first flight. But no indepth investigation has ever been made.
Regardless of who people in the Aviation community believe made the first flight, we all agree on one thing: Santos Dumont is truly the father of aviation, since his inventions, discoveries, and technology survive till this day in modern aircraft.
Santos Dumont was also an idealist. He entered depression and commited suicide after he saw the evil uses for the airplane men had in the first world war. The Wright Brothers on the other hand made fortune selling their later models to the american army.
After testing pieces of wood in a rudemintary wind tunnel, the Wrights designed a machine which they believed could stay in the air for atleast a few seconds. Thus, in 1903, the Wrights took their machine to the windiest place in the United States, Kitty Hawk, Norht Carolina...knowing full well that only with the help of strong winds would their machine have any chance of sustaining flight.
There was also two more problems. Their machine was too heavy for its own good, and the engine too weak. Therefore, it could not takeoff on its own means, and had to rely on a catapult to propel it into the air. Then once airborne, the pilot would only be take for a ride, because the Wrights also did not know how to manipulate the controls of an aircraft once airborne.
So, in 1903, the Wrights catapulted their machine into the windiest skies of the US, and it flew-or glided-along for a few seconds before coming down hard on the North Carolina sand.
Santos Dumont, on the other hand, had been a well known inventor for some time before he first took flight. He invented many simple everyday gadgets, and was highly respecte in Europe. But his fasination lay with aviation, and man's dream of flying. In 1906, Santos Dumont and the rest of the world had no idea who the Wright Brothers were, and were still under the impression that no flight had been made.
Dumont came up with a heavier than air machine which could take off, manuver through the air for several minutes, and land gently where it started. Thus, Santos Dumont took off from downtown Paris in 1906 infront of a crowd of millions, manuvered his aircraft using an invention of his: the aileron, and landed safely at the same point he started at.
Only many years later would the records of the Wright's "flight" in 1903 be released, and the Americans claimed the right of first flight by technicality...the technicality being the Wrights machine was heavier than air, and had a working motor..as useless to flight as that motor might have been.
So the question is this: was the Wrights machine really an airplane that took flight? Or was it more of a kite? If the latter is true, which is what the evidence points to, than Santos Dumont made the first flight. But no indepth investigation has ever been made.
Regardless of who people in the Aviation community believe made the first flight, we all agree on one thing: Santos Dumont is truly the father of aviation, since his inventions, discoveries, and technology survive till this day in modern aircraft.
Santos Dumont was also an idealist. He entered depression and commited suicide after he saw the evil uses for the airplane men had in the first world war. The Wright Brothers on the other hand made fortune selling their later models to the american army.
