First aerial crossing of the South Atlantic

Last updated
Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in the Lusitania, the first of three Fairey III aircraft used during their 1922 journey. Gago Coutinho e Sacadura Cabral.jpg
Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in the Lusitânia, the first of three Fairey III aircraft used during their 1922 journey.

The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic was made by the Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922, to mark the centennial of Brazil's independence. Coutinho and Cabral flew in stages from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using three different Fairey III biplanes, and covered a distance of 8,383 kilometres (5,209 mi) between 30 March and 17 June. [1] [2] Although the North Atlantic had already been traversed in a non-stop flight by John Alcock and Arthur Brown in 1919, Coutinho and Cabral's flight remains notable as a milestone in transatlantic aviation, and for its use of new technologies such as the artificial horizon. [2]

Contents

In June 2022, the centenary of the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic, it was announced that Faro Airport will officially change its name to Gago Coutinho Airport, in honour of Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho. [3]

The journey

Coutinho and Cabral's transatlantic route. Vuelo Gago Coutinho y Sacadura Cabral.svg
Coutinho and Cabral's transatlantic route.

First aircraft

The journey started at the Bom Sucesso Naval Air Station in the Tagus, near the Belém Tower in Lisbon, at 16:30 on 30 March 1922, in the Portuguese Naval Aviation aircraft Lusitânia, a Fairey III-D MkII seaplane specifically outfitted for the journey. [1] The Lusitânia was equipped with an artificial horizon for aeronautical use, a revolutionary invention at the time; [1] [2] according to the Portuguese Navy Museum, testing the horizon was one of the main reasons for the flight.

The first part of the journey ended on the same day at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, where the aviators noticed that the plane's fuel consumption was higher than expected. [1] The journey resumed on 5 April, when they departed for São Vicente Island, Cape Verde, traversing 1,370 kilometres (850 mi). After making repairs on the Lusitânia, they departed São Vicente on 17 April and flew to Praia on Santiago Island, and then to the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, already in Brazilian waters, where they arrived on the same day, after flying 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) over the South Atlantic. They had reached that point by relying solely on the Coutinho's sextant with its artificial horizon. [1] [2]

However, when ditching on the rough seas near the archipelago, the Lusitânia lost one of its floats and sank. The two aviators were saved by the cruiser NRP República, which had been sent by the Portuguese Navy to support the aerial crossing. The aviators were then carried to the Brazilian Fernando de Noronha islands.

Second aircraft

Monument to the flight in Lisbon. First South TransAtlantic flight monument in Lisbon.jpg
Monument to the flight in Lisbon.

Enthusiastic Portuguese and Brazilian public opinion about the flight led the Portuguese government to send another Fairey III seaplane to complete the journey. [1] The new plane, baptized Pátria, arrived at Fernando Noronha on 6 May. After being refitted, the Pátria departed on 11 May with Coutinho and Cabral on board. They flew to the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago to resume the journey at the point where it had been interrupted. However, an engine problem forced them to once again make an emergency ditching in the middle of the ocean, where they drifted for nine hours until being saved by the nearby British cargo ship Paris City, which carried them back to Fernando Noronha. [1] [2]

Third aircraft

A third Fairey III – baptized Santa Cruz by the wife of Epitácio Pessoa, the President of Brazil – was sent out, carried by the cruiser NRP Carvalho Araújo. On 5 June, the Santa Cruz was put in the waters of Fernando Noronha and Coutinho and Cabral resumed their journey, flying to Recife, then to Salvador da Bahia, then to Vitória and from there to Rio de Janeiro, where they arrived on 17 June 1922, ditching in the Guanabara Bay. The two men were received as heroes by huge crowds, and were greeted by the aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. [1] [2] Although their journey had lasted 79 days, the actual flight time was just 62 hours and 26 minutes. The aircraft, the only of the three that survived until today, is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. [4]

Later transatlantic flights

In January 1926, a Spanish team including Ramón Franco, Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, Juan Manuel Duran and Pablo Rada made the first flight between Spain and South America in a single aircraft, the Plus Ultra . They followed a similar route to Cabral and Coutinho.

In October 1927, French aviators Joseph Le Brix and Dieudonné Costes performed the first nonstop aerial crossing from Saint Louis, Sénégal to Port Natal, Brazil. This was the second leg of their 187-day-long flight around the world.

Coutinho and Cabral's aerial crossing inspired numerous subsequent transatlantic pilots, such as the American Charles Lindbergh, the Brazilian João Ribeiro de Barros and the Portuguese Sarmento de Beires, all of whom crossed the Atlantic in 1927. [1] [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando de Noronha</span> State district in Pernambuco, Brazil

Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, and located 354 km off the Brazilian coast. It consists of 21 islands and islets, extending over an area of 26 km2 (10 sq mi). Only the eponymous main island is inhabited; it has an area of 18.4 km2 (7.1 sq mi) and a population estimated at 3,101 in 2020. While the archipelago is relatively low-lying, there are parts stretching above 100 m (328 ft) in elevation.

Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries after the dwindling of sporadic Viking trade with Markland, a regular and lasting transatlantic trade route was established in 1566 with the Spanish West Indies fleets, following the voyages of Christopher Columbus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dornier Do J Wal</span> 1922 multi-role flying boat family by Dornier

The Dornier Do J Wal ("whale") is a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) under its aircraft designation system of 1933.

A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Latin America, or vice versa. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairey III</span> Type of aircraft

The Fairey Aviation Company Fairey III was a family of British reconnaissance biplanes that enjoyed a very long production and service history in both landplane and seaplane variants. First flying on 14 September 1917, examples were still in use during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Navy</span> Naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces

The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defense of Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pico de São Tomé</span>

Pico de São Tomé is the highest mountain in São Tomé and Príncipe at 2,024 m (6,640 ft) elevation. It lies just west of the centre of São Tomé Island, in the Parque Natural Obô de São Tomé and in the Lembá District. The second highest point, Pico de Ana Chaves, lies about 3 km to its south east. The town Santa Catarina is 8 km to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago</span> Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to Brazil

The Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago is a group of 15 small islets and rocks in the central equatorial Atlantic Ocean. It lies in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a region of the Atlantic characterized by low average winds punctuated with local thunderstorms. It lies approximately 510 nmi from the nearest point of mainland South America ; 625 km (388 mi) northeast of the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha; 990 km (620 mi) from the city of Natal; and 1,824 km (1,133 mi) from the west coast of Africa. Administratively, the archipelago belongs to Brazil and is part of the special "state district" of Fernando de Noronha, in the state of Pernambuco, in spite of the very large distance between the two island groups and the even larger distance to the state mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarmento Rodrigues</span> Portuguese colonial governor

Manuel Maria Sarmento Rodrigues was a naval officer, colonist and professor. He was born in 1899 in Freixo de Espada à Cinta, Portugal. He attended a secondary school in Bragança and attended the University of Coimbra. He entered the Naval School and concluded the marine course in 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacadura Cabral</span> 19/20th-century Portuguese aviation pioneer

Artur de Sacadura Freire Cabral, GCTE, known simply as Sacadura Cabral, was a Portuguese aviation pioneer. He, together with fellow aviator Gago Coutinho, conducted the first flight across the South Atlantic Ocean in 1922, and also the first using only astronomical navigation, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gago Coutinho</span> 19/20th-century Portuguese naval officer and aviation pioneer

Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, GCTE, GCC, generally known simply as Gago Coutinho, was a Portuguese geographer, cartographer, naval officer, historian and aviator. An aviation pioneer, Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral were the first to cross the South Atlantic Ocean by air, from March to June 1922, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaspar de Lemos</span> Portuguese explorer

Gaspar de Lemos was a Portuguese explorer and captain of the supply ship of Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet that arrived to Brazil. Gaspar de Lemos was sent back to Portugal with news of their discovery and was credited by the Viscount of Santarém as having discovered the Fernando de Noronha archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faro Airport</span> International airport serving Faro, Portugal

Faro Airport, officially Gago Coutinho Airport, is located four kilometres west of Faro in Portugal. The airport opened in July 1965 being the main gateway to the year-round resort region of the Algarve with nine million passengers using the facility in 2019.

<i>Plus Ultra</i> (aircraft)

Plus Ultra is a Dornier Do J flying boat which completed the first transatlantic flight between Spain and South America in January 1926 with a crew of Spanish aviators, that included: the major Ramón Franco, the captain Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, the sub-lieutenant Juan Manuel Durán, and the mechanic Pablo Rada.

The Sport Clube Lusitânia is a sports club located in Angra do Heroísmo on the island of Terceira, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Naval Aviation</span> Air component of the Portuguese Navy from 1917 to 1957

The Portuguese Naval Aviation constituted the air component of the Portuguese Navy, from 1917 to 1957. The Portuguese Air Force maritime patrol units and the Navy's Helicopter Squadron are the present successors of the former Portuguese Naval Aviation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarmento de Beires</span>

José Manuel Sarmento de Beires was a Portuguese Army officer and an aviation pioneer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando de Quintanilha e Mendonça Dias</span>

Fernando de Quintanilha e Mendonça Dias GCC, TO, ComA, GOA, GCA, MPBS, MOBS, GOI, GOIH, ECMM was a member of the Portuguese Navy, and a political and colonial administrator during the Estado Novo and Minister of the Navy from 1958 to 1968. In this role he was instrumental in the creation of the Hydrographic Institute.

The Lafay Independência was a Brazilian twin-engine, biplane aircraft, the first of its kind built in Latin America.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cambeses Júnior, Manuel (2008). "A Primeira Travessia Aérea do Atlântico Sul" [The First Crossing of the South Atlantic by Air](PDF) (in Portuguese). Brasília: INCAER. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 8, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pereira, Armand F. "Summary of the First Southern Atlantic Crossing (1922) by the Portuguese Aviators Gago COUTINHO and Sacadura CABRAL on a Fairey-17 Single Engine Hydroplane". HoneyMooney.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013.[ unreliable source? ]
  3. "Faro Airport renamed". The Portugal News. The Portugal News. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  4. Lusa, Agência. "Hidroavião de Sacadura Cabral e Gago Coutinho é unico no mundo e está em Lisboa". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-09-25.