A milestone for world air navigation turns 100 in 2022. From March 30 to June 17, 1922, Portuguese aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral undertook the First Air Crossing of the South Atlantic.
Leaving from the Tagus River, in Lisbon, the aircraft named Lusitânia, a single-engine seaplane specially designed for the occasion, made the first flight connecting Portugal to Brazil, thus repeating, by air, the maritime voyage of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, some centuries before.
In all, the air mission lasted 62 hours and 26 minutes, traveling around 8.300 kilometers, making stopovers in Las Palmas, Gando, São Vicente, São Tiago, Penedos de São Pedro and São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Recife, Salvador, Porto Seguro, Vitória and, finally, Rio de Janeiro, which at the time was the Brazilian capital.
The trip represented an invaluable contribution to aviation, since until then long distance travel made it difficult to maintain course. To overcome the obstacle, the duo found, with genius, an unprecedented solution.
After intense studies and his knowledge of geography and cartography, iral Gago Coutinho perfected the nautical sextant, adapting it to aviation. In partnership with Sacadura Cabral, he developed equipment called “Corretor de Rumos”, which made it possible to plot the plane's drift and calculate the true course, with excellent precision.
Hhistorical
The beginning of the South Atlantic Air Crossing project took place in 1919, on the occasion of the visit of the President of Brazil to Portugal, when Sacadura Cabral launched the idea of commemorating the first centenary of Brazil's independence.
The following year, in 1920, Sacadura Cabral was in England, acquiring material for the Portuguese Naval Aviation and listing the types of aircraft considered ideal for carrying out the Atlantic crossing. In this way, his choice pointed out the English manufacturer Fairey, builder of the F III-D plane.
The Fairey company even already had a project for a hydroplane with characteristics similar to what Sacadura Cabral was looking for, that is, the F III-D, modified, adapted to a transoceanic voyage, with increased wingspan and additional fuel tanks. on the main floats.
Sacadura Cabral accompanied the construction and modification of the plane, which, after difficult experiments and readjustments, was ready almost at the end of 1921.
Photos: Archive / Portuguese Air Force
Street: FAB
