On January 8, the 90th anniversary of the birth of engineer and founder of Embraer, Ozires Silva, is celebrated. Responsible for creating and developing the Brazilian aeronautical industry, the Aviator Officer of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and Aeronautical Engineer graduated from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) collects a trajectory full of dreams and achievements, which mark the national history of aviation.
Born in the interior of the state of São Paulo, in the city of Bauru, the boy who already showed an interest in airplanes questioned: “If the inventor of the airplane is Brazilian, why can't we build our own planes?”.
With this question, he and his inseparable friend, Benedito César (Zico), questioned the development of Brazil through aviation, since all aircraft in the city's flying club were manufactured by Americans and French. Thus began the desire to become Aeronautical Engineers.
There was no school in Brazil that offered the course and his parents did not have the financial means to send him abroad. So, as a starting point, Ozires ed the Aeronautics School as a cadet in 1948 in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). After graduating, he served in the Amazon, worked at the National Air Mail (CAN), in Rio de Janeiro and at the São Paulo Air Base (BASP).
At the same time, a visionary, Casimiro Montenegro Filho, began to lay the foundations of a national aviation industry.
“Before we produce aircraft, we need to produce engineers”, said Casimir. It was under this ideal that the Centro Técnico de Aeronáutica (CTA) and ITA were born, the first training school for aeronautical engineers in Brazil, in the city of São José dos Campos (SP).
In 1958, a flight changed his life. Ozires was woken up at dawn to accompany a friend, who told him about this first-world school that trained aeronautical engineers. In the following year, he moved to São José dos Campos (SP) to ITA, where he would finally make his dream come true.
“It was a vigorous process of transformation. I became a FAB officer and an airplane builder”, says Ozires Silva.
When Casimiro Montenegro Filho, in his historic speech as paraninfo of the first group of Iteans (as those who graduate from ITA are known) formed, declared: “I am not in a position to do the aeronautical industry now. You will one day.”. She didn't imagine that the dreamer Ozires Silva would come true.
Soon after graduating, in 1962, Ozires was invited to lead the Aircraft Department of the then CTA, where he found that the country needed small planes that could facilitate air traffic between small cities, since commercial aviation had only large, expensive aircraft.
Ozires starts the development of the IPD-6504 project – the future Bandeirante – alongside big names such as Air Lieutenant Brigadier Paulo Victor da Silva and engineers Max Holste, Ozílio Silva and Guido Pessotti. After many challenges and years of hard work, the result was a genuinely Brazilian product, developed, conceived and produced nationally by the company that later became Embraer.
The Bandeirante Airplane
On October 22, 1968, the prototype flew for the first time, which, after being perfected, became the Bandeirante. The aircraft inaugurated regional aviation in the country and gave rise to Embraer.
“The Bandeirante was a response to our doubts, among many, about which type or model of aircraft we could try to manufacture in Brazil and which could be reasonably different from those that were normally produced in more developed countries. It arose from the idea that the small cities of the future should have air transport available”, declared Ozires Silva, creator and founder of Embraer.
With the creation of Embraer, in 1969, new paths and ideals were opened for ITA Engineers. Marechal Montenegro's dreams came true with the implementation of a Brazilian aeronautical industry, which made it possible to put into practice all research, teaching, aeronautical development in systems and leverage the country in the aerospace field.
The Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), formerly CTA, carries with it the legacy of the development of the Bandeirante project in one of its hangars, Hangar X-10. In addition, the pride of having an Aviator and Itean Officer responsible for such a feat.
“Talking about Ozires Silva is talking about the Itean that revolutionized the Brazilian aeronautical industry. There are 90 years of the history of the one who dared to dream, plan, design and build the first genuinely Brazilian airplane, the Bandeirante, which later gave rise to Embraer, a national company, which would become the third largest aviation company and a world reference in production of civil and military aircraft, highlighted Lieutenant Brigadier Hudson Costa Potiguara, General Director of the DCTA.
The engineer and aviator Ozires Silva, during these nine decades, walked a path of success. He was president of Petrobras and Varig, former Minister of Infrastructure, created Pele Nova Biotecnologia, a company focused on human health and university president. He is recognized as an important entrepreneur in the country, and has more than 50 national and international decorations and awards.
Text via – Brazilian air force
