Just as Portugal was a pioneer in the Age of Discovery, so too was she in the Age of Aviation. To mark the centennial of Brazil’s independence, the Portuguese government supported an endeavour by two ambitious naval aviators, Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral, to become the first men to cross the South Atlantic by plane in 1922.

The pair set off from Belém in Lisbon – Gago’s birthplace – on 30 March 1922 in a British-made Fairey III-D reconnaissance seaplane named Lusitânia, equipped with some of the most advanced technology of the age, including an artificial horizon designed and built by Gago himself. They arrived in the Canary Islands that same day, then continued on to Cape Verde on 5 April, and crossed the Atlantic proper on 17 April. They very nearly made it to the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, when rough weather forced them to ditch the plane. One of her floats came off and she sank, leaving the two men adrift. Luckily, they were picked up by a Portuguese naval vessel, and carried to the Fernando de Noronha islands off the coast of Brazil.

Enraptured by the men’s progress, the Brazilian and Portuguese public convinced the Portuguese government to send the men another plane – another Fairey III-D seaplane – to have another stab at it. Named Pátria, the aviators left Fernando de Noronha on 11 April and set a course for the Archipelago to pick up where they left off. By sheer bad luck, engine problems forced them to ditch the plane. Adrift for nine hours, they were picked up by a British cargo ship, which took them back to Fernando. De Noronha.

Eager to see the adventure to its end, a third Fairey III-D – christened Santa Cruz by the spouse of the President of Brazil – was sent to Fernando de Noronha. Once more, the aviators left the island on 5 June, and this time they were successful, flying on to Recife, Salvador de Bahia, Vítoria, and then finally arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 17 June. The men were greeted as heroes by enormous crowds, and Santa Cruz survives on display to this day in the Portuguese Maritime Museum. Their total flight time was 62 hours, despite their journey taking 79 days.

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