Posted AT 11:35 PM EDT on 12/12/03
Before the Wright brothers?
The year was 1906, and a Brazilian-born aviator and boulevardier named Alberto Santos Dumont was about to make history.
What kind of history, as far as millions of Brazilians are concerned, is still in dispute.
Scores of spectators, attracted to the Bois de Boulogne outside Paris by public announcements, watched as Santos Dumont climbed into a contraption called the 14-Bis, lifted into the air and flew for 21 seconds.
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