Santos-Dumont Miniseries

[rwanttaja]

Found an interesting mini-series on Alberto Santos Dumont, early aviation pioneer. It's a six-episode Brazilian production.

Just watched the first episode tonight, it was pretty good. Looks like they have full-scale Demoiselle and 14 Bis replicas in the later episodes.

You can find it in HBO, under "Latina Series." It's in Portuguese and French, but has English subtitles. Title is "Santos Dumont."

Ron Wanttaja

[BusyLittleShop]

1906 Santos Dumont's straight line bunny hops were celebrated as the
worlds defining moment in art of powered controlled flight... but
unbeknown to Santos he was laboring in the shadow of the Wrights who
were flying on a daily bases up to the duration of 1.2 hours in figure 8s...


https://youtu.be/ZqfP7nvY5zw

[rwanttaja]

1906 Santos Dumont's straight line bunny hops were celebrated as the
worlds defining moment in art of powered controlled flight... but
unbeknown to Santos he was laboring in the shadow of the Wrights who
were flying on a daily bases up to the duration of 1.2 hours in figure 8s...
I'm curious to see how the miniseries handles this.

Wilbur Wright brought their airplane to Paris in 1908. Everyone thought his claims were boasting. The Flyer was damaged by Customs inspectors when it arrived in France. Took Wright two months to fix it...everyone thought he was just dodging having to fly and show the Wright's claims were false.

Finally, it was time. IIRC, Santos Dumont flew first... leaving the ground by a meter or so, and flying a few hundred feet. The crowd surrounded him, cheering.

Then Wright flew...taking off, climbing up to five hundred feet, and just started circling the field for a half-hour. Proved the Wright's claims. It put Santos Dumont in the shade. As another French aviation put it: "We are beaten."

I always thought "Wilbur Wright in France" would make a dandy movie.

Ron "Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille" Wanttaja

[BusyLittleShop]

True Ron...

In 1908 the Wrights were all about the business of selling their
invention... even with a passenger they could have made the historical
crossing of the English Channel easily before Bleriot's solo flight in
1909...


https://youtu.be/cKDepNYlbRA