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Alberto Santos-Dumont

en.wikipedia.org

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Re: Alberto Santos-Dumont

#11

Post by ojosilva » 

    Santos-Dumont was so enthusiastic about
    aviation that he made the drawings of the 
    Demoiselle available free of charge, 
    thinking that aviation would lead 
    to a new prosperous era for mankind.
I've always admired his open-sourcing of the Demoiselle, when disease and a failing business model lead him to retire. The drawings were published in (or through) magazines worldwide, including Popular Mechanics, and were very influential for a period of time. The airplane models were versioned (No. 19, 20...) and apparently there were even "plugins" popping up everywhere, so Demoiselle enthusiasts could upgrade their aircraft to taste.

http://web.archive.org/web/20091026211607/http://www.geociti...

Re: Alberto Santos-Dumont

#12

Post by soapdog »

I just wish that our airport called Santos-Dumont here in Rio had a replica of the 14-bis or the Demoiselle in it...

Also, the fact that many americans are completely unaware of him and sometimes hostile when I tell his story makes me a bit mad... His one of the reasons I am pretty proud of being Brazilian and I believe a more positive role model than most that are around on TV these days.

Re: Alberto Santos-Dumont

#13

Post by ninguem2 »

soapdog wrote: post #12

I just wish that our airport called Santos-Dumont here in Rio had a replica of the 14-bis or the Demoiselle in it... Also, the fact that many americans are completely unaware of him and sometimes hostile when I tell his story makes me a bit mad... His one of the reasons I am pretty proud of being Brazilian and I believe a more positive role model than most that are around on TV these days.

I agree that Santos Dumont is great and a wonderful role model but the way this story is (was?) taught in school in Brazil is misleading. I never even heard of the Wright brothers until I went to live abroad as an adult and was caught completely by surprise.
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