In 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont performed a number of short flights in front of a large crowd in Paris. These were done in his newly constructed heavier-than-air flying machine, the No.14-Bis. After these successful hops newspapers roared that Santos had once again “conquered the air”. Until at least 1908 he was widely recognized as the inventor of the first airplane. Now very few remember the achievements of Santos-Dumont outside of his native Brazil. What changed? It turns out that there are many potential contenders for the first “controlled” heavier-than-air flight. This story goes well beyond the Wright Brothers. Tune-in and find out how gliding Germans, pesky catapults, and some guy named “Bamboo Dick” all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Hallion, Richard. Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age from Antiquity through the First World War. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Hoffman, Paul. Wings of Madness Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight. William Collins, 2017.

McCullough, David G. The Wright Brothers. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2016.

Ogilvie, Gordon, and Richard Pearse. The Riddle of Richard Pearse. (Second Edition.). A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1974.

Rodliffe, C. Geoffrey. Wings over Waitohi: the Story of Richard Pearse. C.G. Rodliffe in Association with Avon Press, 1997.

Santos-Dumont, Alberto. My Airships: the Story of My Life. Dover Publications, 1973.

“Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company The Story of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Invention of the Airplane, and  Man’s First Flights.” Brothers.org, wright-brothers.org/.