# Flying Across the Atlantic

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-across-the-atlantic/164070>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [March 25, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-across-the-atlantic/164070 "2003-03-25T17:26:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-across-the-atlantic/164070/1 "2003-03-25T17:26:22Z")

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Another excellent staff report from **bibliophage** : [Did others fly across the Atlantic before Lindbergh?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtransatlantic.html).

When was the first transatlantic flight from Brazil to Africa?

I noticed that the report listed several early transatlantic attempts from Portugal to Brazil, but I didn’t see any that took the shortest route across the Atlantic–directly between Africa and South America. I’m assuming this was due to lack of infrastructure. Did it take until WWII to put the necessary airfields in place?

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-across-the-atlantic/164070/2 "2003-03-25T21:55:49Z")

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In the report, I mentioned that in March 1927, Sarmento de Beires, Jorge de Castilho, and Manuel Gouveia flew from Portugal to Brazil. I did not mention it in the report, but they stopped in Morocco and Guinea-Bissau before crossing the Atlantic, so they did fly from the African contient to the South American continent (with a stop at the Island of Fernando de Noronha).

It is interesting to note that in 1933, Charles and Ann Morrow Lindbergh made a nonstop flight from The Gambia in Africa to Brazil in South America in the Lockhead Sirius seaplane _Tingmissartoq_.

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-across-the-atlantic/164070/3 "2003-03-26T02:14:15Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bibliophage \*  
> **I did not mention it in the report, but they stopped in Morocco and Guinea-Bissau before crossing the Atlantic, so they did fly from the African contient to the South American continent (with a stop at the Island of Fernando de Noronha).**

Ahh. I suppose I should have guessed that’s how they did it.

It seems like the aircraft industry discovered the art of “spinning” its accomplishments very early on…