The number of Brazilians who’ll send you death threats on X for saying that the Wrights invented the airplane is truly astounding, even though Flyer One achieved heavier than air flight in 1903, compared to 1906 for Dumont.
Their primary argument is that Flyer One is a glider because it took off using a catapult. This is wrong for two reasons.
1. Flyer One didn’t use a catapult, it used a rail.
2. If using a catapult makes your aircraft a glider, then I guess the Rafale’s also a glider by their definition.
Neuralmute on
I always respect a man willing to stir the pot on Christmas.
AlbatrossOk6223 on
As a Brazilian, I’ll say this: the Wright brothers were the inventors of the airplane.
Most Brazilians cite Santos-Dumont because that’s what we’re taught our whole lives in school and pop culture. I genuinely didn’t even learn the details about the Wright brothers until my late 20s.
Santos-Dumont was an amazing pioneer and deserves huge credit, but historically the Wrights flew earlier and solved controlled flight. Both can be respected, even if our national narrative only highlights one.
That said, speaking for myself (and knowing a lot of my countrymen do the same), I still jokingly call the Wright brothers’ plane a “glider” just to piss Americans off, even though I know that’s not true.
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The number of Brazilians who’ll send you death threats on X for saying that the Wrights invented the airplane is truly astounding, even though Flyer One achieved heavier than air flight in 1903, compared to 1906 for Dumont.
Their primary argument is that Flyer One is a glider because it took off using a catapult. This is wrong for two reasons.
1. Flyer One didn’t use a catapult, it used a rail.
2. If using a catapult makes your aircraft a glider, then I guess the Rafale’s also a glider by their definition.
I always respect a man willing to stir the pot on Christmas.
As a Brazilian, I’ll say this: the Wright brothers were the inventors of the airplane.
Most Brazilians cite Santos-Dumont because that’s what we’re taught our whole lives in school and pop culture. I genuinely didn’t even learn the details about the Wright brothers until my late 20s.
Santos-Dumont was an amazing pioneer and deserves huge credit, but historically the Wrights flew earlier and solved controlled flight. Both can be respected, even if our national narrative only highlights one.
That said, speaking for myself (and knowing a lot of my countrymen do the same), I still jokingly call the Wright brothers’ plane a “glider” just to piss Americans off, even though I know that’s not true.
Brazil 🤝 Dr William Whitney Christmas
Very insistent that they invented a plane