We usually assume that the Wright brothers invented the plane in the US. In Brazil they think they have evidence otherwise

December 17, 1903. That morning, the brothers wibur and orville wright They got something apparently unpublished until then: A flight of only 12 seconds for posterity and just over 36 meters away that changed the world of aviation forever. They had achieved the first (controlled) flight of a machine heavier than the air, and the United States and the brothers would remain forever in the annals of the story.

However, in Brazil they don’t have it so clear.

A centenary rivalry. While in most of the planet there is consensus and the invention of the plane is attributed to the Wright brothers, in Brazil the conviction is kept alive that That was not like that. In fact, many think it was Alberto Santos Dumont who made the first flight considered real in 1906. The Brazilian narrative maintains that, unlike the Wright, Santos Dumont managed to take off its aircraft 14-BIS Autonomously and without mechanical assistance, raising before judges and journalists in Paris, without the need for catapults or favorable winds, which would make it, according to its defenders, the true “father of aviation.”

To get an idea, he told the weekend The Washington Post That this version He has shown so deeply In the Brazilian culture, to the point that the image of Santos Dumont has figured in tickets, one of the main airports of Rio de Janeiro bears his name and his figure starred in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games.

Lula and the tests. Not just that. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also put his grain of sand and has revived the debate During his current mandate, taking advantage of every occasion to discredit the US version and claim Santos Dumont as a pioneer. Lula accuses the United States of having imposed his story thanks to his Powerful film industry And he considers that denying Brazilian merit is a grievance to history and national self -esteem.

For the politician and so many other defenders, the difference is very clear: The Wright Flyer In 1903 He needed catapultsconstant wind and auxiliary structures, while the 14-bis of Santos Dumont took off on its own, without any external device, flying 220 meters in front of the look of the public and the international press.

Dumont’s 14bis

The technical debate and science. And what do experts say? It is the big question, obvious. Historians and experts in aviation outside Brazil, Like Peter JakabEmeritus curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, they consider irrefutable that the Wright managed to fly before Santos Dumont. Under this premise, they argue that The use of non -disabling catapults The achievement, remembering that even today combat airplanes take off by catapults from aircraft carriers without its flight capacity.

In addition, they emphasize that in 1905 The Flyer III of the Wright already made sustained flights up to 40 minutes and 38 km of travel, demonstrating a much more developed capacity than that of 14-bis. On the other sidewalk, for many Brazilians the crucial detail is not the duration, but The shape of takeoff: Without external aids and before witnesses.

National background and mythology. In the end, the dispute has transcended the purely technical and has become a National Identity Question both in Brazil and the United States. For Brazilians, Santos Dumont represents not only a technological deed but A symbol of ingenuity and homeland pride. Its legacy goes beyond aviation: it is remembered for its simplicity, its contribution to the development of airships and its rejection of the military use of airplanes, cause that deeply affected it until its tragic end.

In Brazil, in fact, its figure is more revered as A cultural hero that as a purely historical character, while in the United States it could be said that the history of the Wright brothers part of the founding story of the modern technological era.

The dilemma: truth vs identity. One thing does seem clear: historical records tend to favor the Wright, although that has not prevented the debate from persists as a symbolic struggle between two nations with quite different visions about the history of aviation.

In Petrópolis, saints city of Santos Dumont, its legacy is still alive, and its nephew-bisnieto, Alberto Dodsworth Wanderley, recognized in the post that the dispute has become more A matter of faith than verifiable facts. Polarization is such that, for each side, there are enough emotional and technical arguments to hold your position. If you want also, it is an obvious example (Another one) How nationalism can mold the interpretation of history.

Image | John T. Daniels, Jules Beau

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