Port and flying 02

[Axel P]

Ramos Pinto 1922 Small.jpg (135.13 KiB) Viewed 882 times

In 1922, on the first attempt for a direct flight from Portugal to Brasil, Adriano Ramos Pinto sponsored the event with a bottle of Port, which he gave to the Pilots to be transferred to the brasilian head of state. Unfortunately the engine seized in the middle of the ocean and the Pilots had to interrupt their flight for some hours to repair it. Since there was some waiting time included and there was not too much to do in the open sea, they happily consumed the bottle of Port they were given. When they finally landed in Rio de Janeiro they obeyed the wish to transfer the (empty) bottle to the brasilians. There is no record if Adriano really has told them that the bottle needed to be full.

Axel

[Alex Bridgeman]

That is a terrific story and one which made me laugh in the pub where I was when I read the post. I assume it was a seaplane of some sort that was being used for the attempt, otherwise I might be much more suspicious about why the plane had to stop...