Weird Ideas

When I was in Brazil on my mission, I discovered that people can have a very different opinion of what happened in the past. For example:

Many Brazilians believe that a Brazilian invented the airplane.

Ask anyone in Brazil who invented the airplane and they will say Alberto Santos-Dumont. If you bring up the Wright brothers, then you will get an earful. Brazilians claim that the Wrights launched their Flyer in 1903 with a catapult or at an incline, thereby disqualifying it from being a true airplane because it did not take off on its own.

It was on November 12, 1906, when Santos-Dumont flew a kite-like contraption with boxy wings called the 14-Bis some 722 feet (220 meters) on the outskirts of Paris. It being the first public flight in the world, he was hailed as the inventor of the airplane all over Europe.

However, by the time Santos-Dumont got around to his maiden flight the Wright brothers had already flown numerous times, including one in which they flew 24 miles (39 km) in 40 minutes. Even in 1903 the airplane sustained itself in the air for nearly a minute. If it's not sustaining itself under its own power, then it's not going to stay up that long; but don't let a Brazilian hear you say that.