Born 150 years ago, aviation pioneer Santos Dumont made history

Passengers flying to Rio on the shuttle from São Paulo make landing at the city’s Santos Dumont Airport, which first opened its doors back in 1936. In the spacious arrivals hall with vast glass windows overlooking the runways and the stunning Guanabara Bay beyond, travelers cannot miss the massive panel by Rio artist Cadmo Fausto. Os Primórdios da Aviação (“The Dawn of Aviation”) depicts Santos Dumont’s flight in the 14-Bis in Paris, with curious bystanders staring all around and the Eiffel Tower rising over the scene.

Stepping out of the main hall, travelers are greeted by a bust of Alberto Santos Dumont, sculpted by the French artist Hugues Desmazieres.

The panel, the sculpture, and the naming of Brazil’s first civil airport are all tributes to the aviator whose 150th birth anniversary is being celebrated this Thursday (Jul. 20). Even his birthplace—the town formerly known as Palmira—pays its tribute, having been renamed Santos Dumont in 1932.

Alberto Santos Dumont is hailed as the Father of Aviation—a title bestowed upon him for being a pioneer in flying a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle. This groundbreaking feat took place at the Bagatelle Field, in Paris, on October 23, 1906.

Maurício Inácio da Silva, an Air Force sub-officer and historian at Rio’s Aerospace Museum (Musal), describes Santos Dumont as a trailblazer.

“It was a time of many discoveries and inventions across all fields. He made the flight of the heavier-than-air 14-Bis possible. It was a huge success for that time. What Santos Dumont achieved left a lasting impact on a generation. It will be remembered forever, as it continues to contribute significantly to the progress of humanity,” he told Agência Brasil.

 Airship flight over the Esplanade of Ministries, in Brasília, in celebration of Santos Dumont’s 150th birth anniversary – Müller Marin / Brazilian Armed Forces

Pioneering achievements abroad

Innovation-driven Santos Dumont had accomplished a number of aerial feats before his 14-Bis flight, like building a balloon—the smallest ever built for carrying a person until then. It flew for five hours in France in July 1898. Dumont continued pursuing his aspirations, combining internal combustion engines with balloons and creating ingenious rudders, which later on led to the development of airships. In 1901, he flew over Paris in one of them, capturing the attention of both the Brazilian and global press.

Living in Paris since he was 18, he spotted something along the banks of the river Seine that helped him transition from balloons to the first airplane model. In 1905, while watching a boat race, Dumont realized that a boat’s engine could be the power source for the 14-Bis’s self-propulsion. After numerous tests and setbacks, this adaptation proved sufficient for the 60-meter flight at a height of three meters the following year.

The Brazilian inventor continued to work on his flying machine. In 1909, he took off in his Demoiselle, one of the world’s first airplanes. It resembled a modern-day ultralight.

The Father of Aviation passed away in 1932. He took his own life at the Grand Hotel La Plage, in Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo. Disappointment with the military use of airplanes during World War I (1914–1918) and in Brazil was cited as one of the reasons for Santos Dumont’s suicide.

“When Santos Dumont pored over these inventions, he knew they could be used in war, but he envisioned airplanes as aerial observers for troop location and the transportation of people. During World War I, he was shocked to see them used for bombing. The last straw really was when he witnessed Brazilian government planes bombing the city of São Paulo during the Constitutional Revolution of 1932,” Inácio da Silva noted.