Born on 20 July 1873 Alberto Santos – Dumont is a Brazilian aviation
pioneer and inventor. His name has an indispensable
position in the list of people who significantly tailored the development of
both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air aircraft. He was known as the father
of Aviation by his countrymen, but Alberto preferred himself to be known as the
very first 'Sportsman of the air'.
He was always interested in aviation and learned about hot air ballooning.
It was not after long, he began piloting balloons by himself and designing his
very own ones. He flew his first air balloon called "Bresil", which
could lift 114.4 lbs. This took place in 1898 on the 4th of July. Later on he
designed steerable balloons which could be propelled in the direction the pilot
wishes and not just the wind direction alone. Though dirigible balloons were a
previous experiment, it was Dumont who was successful in flying it.
Dumont was the first to achieve flight of a powered airplane with
his 14-bis biplane in Europe and was able to build and fly a total of 11
dirigibles. Since there was no air traffic rules Dumont used to fly around his
air balloon.
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