Brazil's Aeronaut

Rio de Janeiro workmen last week were hanging bunting and raising flags; an official reception committee was hiring bands, inviting speakers, preparing lands; the three aviation companies of the city were garnishing their planes--all to welcome home this week Alberto Santos-Dumont, whom all good Brazilians claim invented the first flying machine.

Of course, they err. Senor Santos-Dumont was flying dirigibles when Otto Lilienthal in Germany, Percy Pilcher in England, Samuel Pierpont Langley, the Wrights and Octave Chanute in the U. S. were perfecting airplane wings and gliding with them, when the Langley motored plane tried to fly in 1903 and the Wright motor plane actually did fly a couple of months later. Alberto Santos-Dumont did not fly a plane until Nov. 12, 1906.

His motored plane was a system of double planes, resembling box-kites fastened one to another in the general shape of the letter T. A very light and powerful petrol motor drove two light propellers at high speed. The pilot sat at the juncture of the T. On its first recognized flight (in France) that Santos-Dumont T-plane flew 220 metres in 21 seconds.