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Narloch devoted a chapter of his 2009 bestselling book,
to debunking the claim that it was Santos-Dumont and not Dayton’s Wright Brothers to first achieve powered flight.
Timothy R. Gaffney, a Dayton-based aviation expert and the communications director for the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, said Narloch will visit sites related to the Wright Brothers, including the restored 1905 Wright Flyer III at Dayton History's Carillon Historical Park, the Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives and Wright B Flyer Inc.
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WHY THE MYTH?
first flight because they had not done so
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The Wright Brothers’ historic first flight was in Kitty Hawk, N.C. in 1903, but Santos-Dumont captured headlines and the hearts of his country in 1906.
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The reason: his flight was witnessed by the public.
The world’s admiration rightly shifted to Orville and Wilbur Wright when they started making public flights, Gaffney said.
It was clear that the Wrights had mastered flight.
Wilbur Wright made one of his first public flights at the Hunaudières racetrack in Le Mans, France in August of 1908.
“It just stunned Europe,” Gaffney said. “He was doing flying no one else had seen.”
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Orville Wright made his historic flights for Army observers in Fort Myer, Virginia that September.
BRAZIL GOT IT
Credit: Courtesy Special Collections & A
Credit: Courtesy Special Collections & A
The world praised the Wrights, but Brazil never accepted the memo.
In Brazil, they continue to claim Alberto Santos-Dumont as a national hero.”
M
“He deserves a place in history for what he did do, but he was not the first to fly.”
Brazil is not the only place trying to steal the Wrights thunder.
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