Hi Well, in fact was a Brazilian, named Alberto Santos Dumont, the first men to fly using an aircraft able to take-off using it's own powerplant and fly in a controlled manner like today's aircraft... He acomplished that on the 12th. November 1906 flying around 220 meters in Paris! It's aircraft was called 14bis. In my opinion what the Wright brother did was by no means a controlled flight, they took off using not the aircraft's power and the control they had on their flight was marginal... The flight was a bit more like a "hop" of 36 meters! I know this is a controversial subject but to me Dumont did it... Best regards Miguel Branco da Silva ----- Original Message ----- From: "RT Simpson" <BraniffIntl@xxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 3:57 PM Subject: Who Invented the Airplane? > In a message dated 12/9/2003 10:21:49 PM US Mountain Standard Time, > B787300@xxxxxxx writes: > > > Nobody saw the Wright Brothers fly? What more can you expect to hear from > > a Brazilian taxi driver? > > Didn't Al Gore invent the airplane? Everybody knows Brazil's greatest claim > to fame is the Thong!! > > RT Simpson > Phoenix >