After a successful career
as a naval geographer and cartographer Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho
(1869-1959) as navigator and Sacadura Cabra as pilot made the first flight across the South Atlantic in 1922.
It took three airplanes to complete this flight.
The first plane was a Fairey II-D named the
"Lusitania." It flew from Lisbon to the Canary Islands and on to Cape
Verde. The plane was damaged on landing, and a second Fairy had engine
failure. A third plane was sent to Fernando Noronha Island and the
flight to Rio De Janeiro was successfully completed.
This was not only the first flight across the South
Atlantic, it was also the first time that scientific aerial navigation
was used. Coutinho was the inventor of the sextant for aerial
navigation. Coutinho's sextant and the final airplane, also a Fairy
are in the Naval Museum in Lisbon.
(Thanks to Adelino Morte for information on this