In Brazil, the Wright brothers are not considered to have invented the airplane.
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The people who are said to have developed the world's first powered airplane and succeeded in manned powered flight are the American Wright Brothers . However, in Brazil, for several reasons, it is said that Alberto Santos-Dumont, a native of Brazil, was the first in the world. The Washington Post has summarized the reasons for this.
The airplane was invented by the Wright brothers, right? Not in Brazil. - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/21/brazil-airplane-wright-brothers-santos-dumont/
In Japan and the United States, we are taught that the Wright brothers were the first to achieve powered flight. In 1903, the Wright brothers made history by successfully flying a manned aircraft called the Wright Flyer , which was equipped with a single gasoline engine and generated thrust by connecting the engine to a propeller with a chain.
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However, in Brazil, it is taught that Santos-Dumont was the first person in the world to successfully achieve powered flight.
Santos-Dumont was born in Brazil and was involved in the development of airships and aircraft. In 1906, he achieved manned flight in a powered plane called ' 14-bis ' in France, which caused a sensation throughout Europe. Perhaps because the achievements of the Wright Brothers were not well known at the time, Santos-Dumont's flight was known as 'the first flight by mankind.'
One of the reasons Brazil claims that Santos-Dumont was the first in the world is due to the conditions of takeoff. The Wright Flyer did not have wheels, and took off from the ground using a catapult and a wheeled cart. On the other hand, the 14-bis had wheels and was able to take off on its own, so it is claimed that the 14-bis was the truest form of 'flight.'
A century after those two 'firsts,' Brazil has continued to work to honor Santos-Dumont's achievements: His portrait has appeared on banknotes for nearly two decades, one of Rio de Janeiro's airports bears his name, and a replica plane piloted by a Santos-Dumont lookalike flew around the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also been pushing for Santos-Dumont's status to rise. Amid mounting crises at home and abroad, President Lula has repeatedly touted Santos-Dumont, laughing at the Wright brothers, saying, 'I can't even pronounce their names.' He added, 'Everyone knows that Santos-Dumont was the first person to fly something heavier than air, autonomously, without any assistance. America was able to promote the Wright brothers because of its film industry. But it is essential to restore aviation history and give Brazil its due recognition. Brazil's courage has been unjustly denied.'
'While the dispute is in many ways a harmless one, it raises questions about nationalism, the stories each country tells about itself and the limits of even universal truths,' The Washington Post points out.
Albert Dodsworth Wanderly, a relative of Santos-Dumont who was interviewed by the Washington Post, said he has spent most of his life fighting the debate over who invented the airplane, insisting that Santos-Dumont should get the credit. But now that he's 81 and his wife has died from illness, he no longer thinks the debate is all that important.
'I walked into Santos-Dumont's former home, which is now a museum, and people started crowding around me and saying, 'It's an honor to know you,' and 'Your DNA is so important,' so there was no doubt in the crowd who invented the airplane,' Wanderly said. 'But it's more an act of faith than fact. It's an ideological issue, and you can pick a position and find arguments to support it.'
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